Little Rabbit
by Cold Toenails
Summary: There is a murderer on the lose in Sheltered Shrubs, killing and mutalating incocent girls. Now he wants Ginger. Why? Because she is his angel, his saviour, his beloved. Will Ginger make it out alive?
1. Chapter 1

**Many of you are probably wondering, "Why the hell is Cold Toenails starting a new story again when she knows she doesn't have the time to be working on three or four stories?" Well the answer is because I can. And I'm bored. Very bored.**

* * *

"Ginger, hurry up or you'll be late for school!" Mother called from downstairs.

"Just one second!" Ginger yelled back. I checked my appearance in my full-length mirror to make sure I looked perfect for today. Why? Because today was my six month anniversary with Elliot. We have been going out since April. She had on a gray mini skirt with a black tank top and a light pink ballerina wrap over it. Everything was set and ready to go.

When I got into the car, the first thing Mom did was comment on my attire. "Don't you think it's too cold to be wearing a skirt? Especially one that length?"

"Mother, please," sophomore said rolling my eyes. "I'll be fine. I'm usually inside during school. Oh, and can you drop me off at Elliot's at seven tonight? We're going to walk to the movies."

Mother sighed. "I suppose."

"Just think. In a few months, I'll be able to drive around myself."

"That's a scary thought."

* * *

Ginger was just about to open her locker, when someone pushed it shut. "What the hell? Oh, it's just you," she said.

A curly blond haired boy stood with a Cheshire grin. "So what's up?" Elliot asked. Before Ginger could answer, some one called for Elliot. It was one of his friends. "Sorry Ginge, I'll talk to you later. Ok?"

"Sure, bye," Ginger said dully as Elliot walked away. Ginger sighed as she looked for her empty notebook where she planned on starting a new story. As she slid the notebook down from the top shelf, a white envelope floated down to the floor. Ginger picked it up off the tiled floor. Slowly, she opened it. Inside it held a piece of lined paper. It read:

* * *

_

* * *

My Beloved,_

_You are the reason I live. You are the reason I breathe. You are the reason the sunrises and flowers grow. Nothing can compare to your beauty. Nothing can compare to your at all. Hearing your laugh makes my heart melt. Seeing you smile makes my eye light up like the stars in the sky. Just hearing your name melts my heart and soothes my soul._

_Sincerely,_

_Your's Awaiting._

* * *

Ginger made a face of confusion. The letter was both flattering and yet creepy. She folded back up the paper and stuck it into a pocket of her pink backpack. 'Maybe I'll show it to Elliot later. It was probably just he playing a trick on me anyways. He's so weird," Ginger thought to herself. She searched her locker for anything else that seemed foreign. After finding nothing, Ginger slammed it shut and went off to look for some of her friends.

* * *

And it ends there. Ok I know it's pretty short for a first chapter, but oh well. I'll update when ever. It depends on the reviews.

With Love,

CT


	2. Chapter 2

Stalker POV 

I watched her walk down the sidewalk on her usual walk to the library. That is where she works. I know this because I visit her there everyday. On most days she doesn't notice me. I tend to blend into my surrounding; it's a very helpful gift. But one time last week she asked if I need any help finding anything. Just the sound of her voice made my heart stop. I was sure I was dead. Or going to die. But I answered with a completely stupid, stuttering answer. Why must I always make myself look like a fool?

She looks so beautiful today. She does every day. If only she knew who I am. If only she was mine.

I watched my love enter the library. I would fallow in pursuit in approximately three minutes. After that I will hide behind the reference and watcher her put books. This is my schedule. Some days it would change, but most of the time I did this. I've almost finished reading the dictionary.

I see her. She's coming near me. My heart started to beat faster, speeding more blood into my veins. She is right next to me.

Sadly, she passed. She had gone to help some other person. How do I envy them? They do not know how lucky they have it.

But now I must leave. So for now, goodbye my Ginger. Goodbye my love.

* * *

**It's short, I know.**

**With Love,**

**CT**


	3. Chapter 3

As Ginger left the library, she got that feeling. The sick, tickling feeling of being fallowed. She turned around. There was nothing there. Ginger became so lost in her thoughts about being fallowed, she forgot where she was going. Eventually, she wound up in an unrecognizable place. "Where am I?" she asked herself. The sun was beginning to go down and the streetlights flickered on.

"Lost?" a voice said. She whirled around to see who was talking. Nothing was there. Just a couple of trash cans. She started walking again. She heard footsteps echo hers. Ginger stopped to see if she was being fallowed, but the footsteps stopped. She went back walking. As soon as she started again, so did the other footsteps.

Ginger picked up the pace. The faster she walked, the closer the person came. Then she broke into a run that changed into a sprint. She ran left; trying to loose whom ever was fallowing her. She kept running, but stopped. She ran into a dead end. Ginger stopped to look to see who was fallowing her. No one. A sigh of relief escaped. She noticed a green street sign. It read Mulberry Street; at least she knew where she was now. Ginger smiled in even more relief and headed in the direction of home.

"Did you think you were safe?" Ginger jumped at the voice. It was eerily familiar. Then she remembered it was the one from the phone. But still she couldn't find him. "Where are you?" she asked in a shaky voice.

The person laughed. "I'm every where. You can never hide from me. Your mine!" Some garbage cans were knocked over and Ginger screamed. She started off running again. She was almost out of breath. She sat down on a bench at a bus stop. The bus was just pulling up. She got on thinking that it was safer than just walking. She lunged forward slightly as the bus started off. Ginger watched out the window, feeling paranoid.

* * *

Later that night, Ginger signed onto her MSN. No one was on, but she did have five new emails. She clicked on the email button and searched. Three was only junk mail; another was a chain letter from Dodie. Ginger deleted all four. But the last one was from an unknown contact. Against her better judgment, Ginger opened the email and read it. It said:

* * *

_

* * *

Hello Ginger, _

_I hope you are reading this. Not someone else. Don't worry, I am still with you. You can't escape me or my love. Don't think about going for help. If you do, your family and friends will pay the price. So I hope you're happy my little bird, locked up in our cage of love. Don't try to escape, 'cause you are mine. And I don't hurt what is mine. So don't fret dear, soon we will be together with no one to bother us. I am just waiting for when the time is right. _

_You've been looking stressed lately my pet. Is everything fine? If it's not, I can make it go away. I can't wait for the moment when you can really be in my arms and we can finally be one. _

_Loves_

* * *

Ginger's face twisted in a mix of confusion and disgust. "How the hell do they know me name?" She decided just to ignore it and just get rid of it. Once the email was deleted and gone, Ginger went to take a shower and after that do her homework.

* * *

**

* * *

THE END! I don't feel like writing more, because I don't have to. AND PEOPLE DON'T REVIEW! Oh well, you can't make them. It's ok, I shall move on. I know who my real fans are. **

**With Love**

**CT**


	4. Chapter 4

"Last night, another body was found only a couple of miles from the last." Ginger turned her attention to the morning news.

"Another one?" she thought to herself. She took her cereal bowl and sat closer to the TV to hear better.

"Like last time, it was a young girl who was only sixteen. The body belonged to Diana Kesheral who hadn't been seen since after leaving a friends house around eleven P.M. The pattern of death was disturbingly similar to the four other murders." A picture of Diana flashed on the screen. She was a pretty girl with dark hair and hazel eyes.

"Police have issued a curfew in order to help prevent this from happening again. All citizens, mainly young women, are to be inside their homes before eleven o'clock. The curfew will last as long as it is necessary."

"What are you watching?" Carl asked.

"The news."

Carl studied the screen. "Woa, another broad kicked the bucket."

"Carl!"

"What?"

"You could at least who some sensitivity," Ginger scolded him. "She was just murdered!"

"It's too bad," Carl said. "She was hot."

"Carl!"

"What? It was a compliment."

"Just don't talk about it if you are going to be like that."

"I'm sure she wouldn't care. I bet she got it a lot," Carl added. "So who do you think killed her?"

"Carl, not when we're eating!"

"I bet it was some crazy guy, judging by the way they were all killed. Do you know how they died?"

"No, and I do not want to know."

"First," Carl began. "The police think that he chased them. Then once he caught them, he would knock them out-."

"How do you know it was a guy?" Ginger asked.

"Because all of them were raped before they were strangled," Carl said. He went on. "And then after they were barely conscience, he would-."

"Ok shut up!" Ginger screamed. "I don't want to hear it! Some people are trying to eat here!"

"What is going on down here?" Mrs. Foutley asked, who had just gotten out of bed and was still in her bathrobe.

"They found another body," Carl said. Mrs. Foutley's angry expression faded to a sad one.

"And Carl thinks it's his job to tell me what happened," Ginger said. "It's just sick!"

"You don't want to know what happened?"

"No! Especially not when I am eating," Ginger exclaimed.

"Both of you, calm down and get ready for school," Mrs. Foutley ordered her two children. "And Carl, no tales of death at the table."

"Ok Mom."

"Ginger," Mrs. Foutley said after they all were settled down at the round table. "I want you home by ten. And you are to call me ahead of time before you go anywhere and call me when you get there."

"They just said on the news curfew wasn't until eleven," Ginger said.

"And I want you home at ten. I'm not taking any chances. The same thing goes with you Carl."

"Mom, if you haven't noticed, all of the victims have been girls," Carl pointed out.

"Like I said, I am not taking any chances. There is a mad man running around and I am not going to risk any chance of you getting hurt."

"But, Mom!" Carl whined.

"No buts," Mrs. Foutley said. "No hurry up and finish your breakfast. We're running behind."

* * *

The first half of the beginning of first period was cut out. All teachers were to inform their students about the new curfew rule. "We live in dark times children," their English teacher, Mr. Boat said. "As many of you probably know, another girl was found dead last night." 

The students began to murmur amongst themselves. "And now, there is a curfew that has been issued out. Everyone is to be at home by eleven P.M. on all nights."

"What? That's gay!" a student from the back said loudly.

"It's for everyone," Mr. Boat said. "Even for adults."

"So?"

"What are you going to be doing at eleven on a school night?"

"But what about the weekends?" a raven haired girl in the front asked. "Do we have curfew then?"

"Yes. All people caught will be taken to the police station and spend the night in jail"

"But that's not fair!"

"I'm sure you won't be saying that if you are the next one," Mr. Boat said. The girl shut up. "Is there anymore questions?"

"What happened to her?" a red headed boy asked. "How did he kill her?"

Mr. Boat hesitated before answering. "She was found with a huge gash on her stomach. Her intestines were pulled out and she was hung from a tree with them."

"What about the X?" another boy asked. "I heard some where that all of the girls had Xs carved into the bottom of their feet."

"Yes," Mr. Boat said. "That seems to be his signature."

"What? He can't write his own name?" the person in the back asked. Ginger rolled her eyes.

"No, it means that it's the mark that is left on all the victims, maybe to have some meaning."

"Oh."

"So, do you have anymore questions, or can we go on with our lesson?" No other student rose their hand to say anything. They all sat silently, thinking about what they had just heard. "Ok then, let's begin."

* * *

On her back from the library, Ginger ran into someone. "Oh I'm sorry," she apologized. "I should have been watching where I was going." She looked at the person's face. She recognized her from somewhere. Ginger gasped in horror once she remembered. The person looked just like Diana, the girl who had been murdered. Once Ginger blinked, the face turned. Now it was the face of an old man. 

"I'm sorry," Ginger muttered as she walked away embarrassed for gawking.

When Ginger got home, her mother could tell something was wrong. When she asked, Ginger said it was nothing and went up to her room to do her homework. Mrs. Foutley was suspicious, but figured that it must have been some sort of high school drama.

Once Ginger got to her room, she took out her journal. Quickly, she summarized her day and tried to think of something else to write about. She couldn't think of anything to write. Ginger scribbled something down.

* * *

Isabella Rodriguz- 21 

Nora Godwin- 17

Edna Asheral- 30

Emma Taylor- 13

Diana Kesheral- 16

* * *

All of these names were the girls who had been found dead. Ginger began the list of victims. She didn't know why, but something told her that she had to. "I just hope it doesn't get any longer," Ginger said to herself as she closed her journal and put it away.

* * *

**Wow, probably the longest chapter yet. It's not that exciting but oh well. **

**With love,**

**CT**


	5. Chapter 5

It was an average October Thursday and Ginger had nothing to do. She didn't have to work at the library today, and she felt a little lost with out having her work. Instead, she was hanging out at her house with Elliot, watching TV. Ginger had a heavy sight. "Don't you want to do something else?" she asked. "We do this every time when we are at my house or your house."

"Hey, everything else I want to do you shoot down," Elliot said. His eyes never left the TV. "Is it my fault you don't want to do anything until marriage?"

Ginger glared at him. "There are other things that we can do!"

"Like what? Talk about our feelings?" Elliot took his gaze away from the TV to smile at his girl friend who was wearing a dark smirk on her lips. "I was just kidding."

"Can't we go somewhere, or at least do something?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know!" Ginger exclaimed with another sigh.

"Then don't complain if you don't have any other ideas."

Ginger looked out the window and saw that they had just gotten new mail. "I'll be right back; I'm going to get the mail."

"What?"

Ginger shook her head as she got up from the couch. When she had retrieved the letters, she sorted them out into piles. One for her mom, which was usually just bills and catalogues, one for Carl, and one for her. It looked like all of it was for her mother, but at the bottom of the pile there was a large white envelope.

Ginger furrowed her eyebrows in confusion once she saw that there was no return address. Slowly, she tore at the envelope. She pulled to hard and the letter that was inside fell out. It drifted onto the wood floor like feather. Once it landed, Ginger picked it up, unfolded it, and began to read.

* * *

_My Beloved,_

_Hello there. I hope you are the one reading this instead of some unwanted person. It's not nice to share our personal messages with others. It boils the blood in me when people know about my personal life, especially things that should remain private. Such as love._

_Anyways, I have noticed that you are not content with my little notes. I know that it may frighten you a little, not knowing who I am, but once I reveal myself (Which I do hope is soon) then I am sure that you will be just as joyful as I. But sadly, I must wait. Don't ask for my reasons, but I swear they are good. Now, I know that you are wanting to go find some sort of help. Just a warning, I will not tolerate it if any outside people join in on our secret. If I do find out, someone you love will pay very dearly for your mistakes._

_Speaking of loved ones, just as a heads up, I have been watching your cousin Laura. She is very pretty, but not as pretty as you. _

_For now,_

_Yours Awaiting._

* * *

Ginger was frozen in a mix of horror and slight confusion. "Elliot," Ginger said. "Look at this."

"What?"

Ginger took the letter and handed it to him. Elliot read it over. "So what do you think?" she asked. Elliot didn't speak for a while, but finally he said that it seems like a prank. "But this isn't the first one. I have gotten two other ones."

Elliot thought it over. "I don't know," he said. "Don't you think that it might just be your brother or something? I mean where did it come from?"

"It had no return address."

"Then I think it is most likely your brother," Elliot said. "He is probably just trying to scare you with all that is going on."

"But do you think it's him?"

"The murderer?" Elliot asked raising an eyebrow. "From what I heard, he never stalked any of his victims beforehand. They all sounded pretty random girls."

"I don't know."

"It's ok Ginge. If this person does turn out to be a stalker or what not, you know that I will beat him to a pulp."

Ginger gave a small smile. "If you say so."

"I do, don't worry about it."

* * *

On Friday afternoon, Ginger had just finished taking a shower and was trying to straighten her hair. Her alarm clock had broken, and she woke up a lot later then she planned, one in the afternoon. She was broke from her concentration when the phone rang. Ginger swore as her finger slipped and touched the hot metal. "God damn it!" Ginger exclaimed holding her finger as she ran down the stairs to answer the phone. It was already on its fifth ring.

"Hello?" she asked after picking it up. There was other noise. "Hello?" Ginger was becoming frustrated. The dial tone sounded. She swore again as she slammed the phone back into its original place.

"Why can't people just wait?" she asked herself as she climbed the stairs to finish her half-done hair. Since her freshman year, Ginger couldn't stand her frizzy red hair. She preferred it straightened because it looked more mature.

Right when she had finished, someone rang the doorbell. "Why do does everyone want to talk to us today?" she asked herself. She began to sift through her makeup, looking for the eye shadow she wanted.

The annoying bell rang again. "Carl, get it!" Ginger yelled to her brother. She wasn't sure where he was, but she was pretty sure that he hadn't left. It rang again. Ginger sighed and went back downstairs to open the door.

"Hello," Ginger said annoyed as she opened the door. She screamed when she saw what was on the other side. It was someone dressed in all black, wearing a ski mask.

"Ginger, it's ok!" the person exclaimed. His voice was almost unheard over her scream. The person took off his mask to revealed his identity. It was Hoodsie.

"Hoodsie!" Ginger exclaimed. "What are you doing wearing that!"

"Carl and I were going to play hockey," Hoodsie explained. "I tried to call earlier, but no one was here. So I decided that I should just come over here." Ginger let out a breath of relief and let Hoodie through the door. "Oh yeah," Hoodsie said as he went in. "My sister want you to come over so you guys can talk."

"Ok," Ginger said. She went back upstairs to get ready, then she would go to Dodie's house. Before leaving, Ginger left her mother a note to tell her where she would be and what time she would be home.

* * *

**_Meanwhile_**

* * *

"Let me go!" Laura exclaimed. She struggled against the bonds holding her to the wooden chair. "What do you want from me?"

A dark figure laughed. He was at a table, going through an assortment of knives and surgery utensils. Taking his time, he walked over to the girl who was strapped into a dentist style chair. She was facing the ceiling, so she couldn't get a good view of her surroundings. Being blindfolded didn't help either. As far as she could tell was that she was in a dark room that smelt old and musty.

"You will find out soon enough," he said sharpening a knife. The blade shinned through the darkness. Carefully, he unblindfolded the red haired girl. Once he did, he turned on a bright light. It was blinding to the fifteen year old's eyes.

After a moment, her eyes adjusted and she saw the face of her captive. She didn't recognize him at all. The last thing Laura remembered it was seven P.M. on Thursday and she had just gotten off work from the Chinese restaurant where she works. While she was taking out the garbage, someone grabbed her from behind. She struggled for a while, but then everything after wards was blank.

"Who are you?" Laura asked, fearfully.

"That is not important," the man said as he placed the blade near her arm. "Now, just tell me what I ask, and you will go home free… With out much harm."

"What are you talking about? Get the hell away from me!" Laura once again tried to struggle against the leather belts holding her in place. Her captor held the knife to her arm. He pressed down, leaving a perfect red. She could feel a warm liquid begin to dribble down to her hand. Then, the pain came.

"Now," he said slowly. "Just answer these questions and you can go."

"What questions?" Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"I want you to tell me about your cousin, Ginger."

"What about her?"

"Everything you know."

Laura could see the mad look in his eyes. She knew what he was after, and she wasn't going to let him have it. Laura shook her head. The man frowned and moved the knife over the last cut so that it would form and X. He pressed down harder then the last time.

"Now will you talk?"

"Go fuck yourself you perv," Laura scowled. She spat on his face.

Slowly, the man whipped away the salvia. His smirk turned into a frown. "Tsk tsk," he said shaking his head. He went back to the table to get something. He came back with a pair of hedge clippers. He placed Laura's right ring finger between the blades.

"No, please," Laura begged.

"You should have done what I asked," he said getting ready to close them. "But you didn't, so now I have to discipline you. Didn't your parents ever tell you to respect your elders?"

"Please, don't," Laura repeated. "I won't do it again. I'm sorry. Just please don't do it." The man only let out a high, cruel laugh. Laura closed her eyes, preparing herself for what she knew what was going to come. Salty tears slipped through, trickling down her face. "Just get it over with," she thought.

Then snap! He had finished. Laura tried to hold back her screams of pain, but her attempts were futile. Her captor placed a gloved hand over her mouth to stop all of the noise she was making. Laura hoped that someone would hear her.

"Are you going to be a good girl now and tell me what I want to know?" he asked as he whipped the blood off the clippers. Laura nodded with a pain fill expression. "Good."

* * *

**And that is it for now. So what do you think? I know it wasn't that good, but it will get better I swear… Maybe it will become M, but who knows. OMG! I also got a beta! phantomphan1992 is my beta because I think grammar is a bitch, so she will be my beta person. Now you can't blame me for my grammar! Ha! So everyone, give a round of applause to her. I SAID CLAP PEOPLE! Thank you. Anywho, peace.**

**With Love**

**CT**


	6. Chapter 6

**Aye everyone, sorry for taking my time on updating. I've been busy you know, with the holidays and all. Not to mention I am in a big debate, which you guys can help with in a poll at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

It was late Saturday night. Neither Carl nor Mrs. Foutley was home. Mrs. Foutley had to work the late shift again. Carl had gone to Hoodsie's house to and is mostly likely committing petty crimes at the moment. Ginger was left alone at her house. She was lounging on the couch, watching a movie, Hide and Seek. 

It was just getting to the part where the father was attacking the police officer. Ginger was a little frightened, only because she saw the movie before, but she hated the sight of blood or hearing something die.

Just as the officer was attacked, the phone rang. Ginger jumped to a sitting position, startled by the noise. She looked back at the phone. "Who is calling at this time?" she asked herself. "It's probably Carl again. Or one of his friends."

She answered the phone. For awhile there was nothing but breathing. "Hello?" she asked nervously.

"Ginger, its Mom."

Ginger sighed in relief on hearing her mother's voice. "Hey Mom, what's up?"

"Nothing. I just called to tell you that I won't be back till around two thirty or three."

"Ok."

"Where is your brother?"

"He's at the Bishop's," Ginger answered. She looked back at the TV. She heard her mother mumble something about Mrs. Bishop and sticks.

"Is there anything else you need?" Ginger asked.

"No, I just wanted to tell you when I will be getting home," Mrs. Foutley said. "Are you ok? You sound a little scared or something."

"I'm watching a movie."

"Oh," her mom said. "Well, then I'll let you get back to your movie. Night Ginge."

"Bye Mom. Love you."

Almost as soon as Ginger hung up, the phone rang again. With a heavy sigh, she picked it up and was about to yell at her mom for disturbing her. But it wasn't Mrs. Foutley's voice.

"Ginger? Hello? Is anyone there?" The voice was soft, almost a whisper.

"This is Ginger. May I ask who is calling?"

"It's Laura."

"Laura! Are you ok? What's up?"  
"Look Ginger, I don't have much time to talk. I just got away and I need to tell you something very important before he gets back," Laura said in a panic stricken voice.

"What?"

"Just listen. He's after you, Ginger. He wants you."

"What are you talking about? Where are you?"

"I'm-." Laura was cut off.

"Hello? Laura?"

Laura didn't say anything. A scream came through the receiver. There was also a sign of a struggle. Laura could be heard begging for someone to let go.

"Laura, are you still there?" Ginger asked. Her heart beat began to rise. "Laura! Where are you? What is going on? Laura!"

"Ginger, lock your doors! Call the police! He knows where you are! He always does!" Laura's voice could be heard before she was gagged.

"Laura, are you ok? What the fuck is going on?" Ginger began to pull at her hair. She heard someone pick up the phone. "Hello? Laura, is that you?" They hung up.

"Oh no, oh no," Ginger said pacing back and forth. That's when she remembered it, the note. He had said something about Laura, he had told her not to tell anyone. Ginger gasped and grabbed the cordless phone. With phone in hand, she locked all the doors and was about to call 911. She stopped when she remembered that the note said don't bring anyone into this. Ginger had already told Elliot already, but what could he do? There was still a chance that Laura was only hurt, if she brought the police into it, it could kill her cousin. She hoped that Laura would just be dumped somewhere, alive and able to get home.

* * *

**Saturday, 8:00 A.M.**

* * *

An old lady, Mrs. Yevon, was taking her five year old granddaughter for a walk. They were headed for the grocery store so they could buy some eggs, milk, and other foods that they would need. On their way there, the old woman saw a young girl sleeping on the slide. She led her grand daughter by the hand to wake up the slumbering person. 

"You shouldn't be sleeping there, especially not in the part of town. It's dangerous out here you know," Mrs. Yevon yelled at the girl on the slide.

When she got a better view of the person, she covered her granddaughter's eyes. "Addison, don't look. Let's go back home quick; I have to make a phone call."

* * *

The police soon came. They discovered a sixth victim. She was worse the last. 

The poor girl had slits carved up ward on the corners of her mouth to form a smile. Her body was almost completely naked with the exception of her bloodied bra and underwear. On her elbows and knees, there were markings that looked like stitches. She looked like a bloodied doll. On her stomach was carved a heart with a G in the middle. The police suspected this is the initial of the killer. And like all the other girls, Xs had been carved in the bottom of her feet.

Her body was bagged up and sent off to be examined. The police tried to hold back the bystanders, who were drawn by all the police cars, so that they could collect evidence and all the clues they could before they disappeared. One man snapped pictures of the body as she was loaded up and driven away.

* * *

The autopsies revealed the girl had been tortured before her death. She was missing two fingers, her right ring finer and left pinkie. She was also brutally raped and beaten on the head like the other victims. She had died of strangulation. After she was dead, who ever killed her cut her open and removed her heart and eyes. 

The girl's identify was revealed and the family was notified. The newest victim to hit the list was Laura Foutley, aged 16.

* * *

At the funeral, when Ginger had come up to take one last look at her cousin, she broke down in tears. Laura didn't look a thing like how she did before. Laura and Ginger used to look a lot a like when they were younger, they could have been mistaken for twins. But as they grew older, Laura's hair had lightened to a strawberry blonde and her bright emerald eyes became more noticeable. Ginger was always jealous of her eyes. They were so pretty compared to her chalkboard green ones. 

Now, Laura laid in her coffin in a pale pink dress. She did not look like the beautiful girl she once was. They tried their best to fix her face, but it was hard with the gashes and bruises. Most of it was covered up, but she still didn't look the same.

Ginger looked down on her. She looked so pale, but so peaceful. Like she was asleep warm and safe, but really she was cold. "It's my fault," Ginger told herself. "If I hadn't told Elliot, Laura would still be alive. She wouldn't have gone through all of that pain. She wouldn't have died scared and alone. I killed her, I killed Laura."

Ginger desperately wanted to tell someone what happened, what she had heard. But she knew that she couldn't. She would be putting another person at risk. Someone could die like Laura. So Ginger kept her mouth shut.

Ginger didn't get another letter from her admirer till almost a week after Laura's death. There were still no leads.

She found it when had come out of the bathroom to wash off her makeup before she went to bed. She saw something glowing white on her window sill. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw it was an envelope.

* * *

_To my Beloved,_

_Did I not tell you this would happen if you didn't listen to what I ordered? I warned you, but you were foolish and your cousin had to pay for your mistakes. Sighs, poor Laura. She was such a lovely girl too. With the exception of her over use of profanity. Don't worry though; she put up a good fight. It took her much longer for her to go down then I expected. So small and frail. I will never forget her death look… Her eyes wide with fear and pain, her little heart thumping so quickly and loud. Just a like a rabbit. _

_Anyways, I do hope that you will listen to me from now on. Remember that I am serious about everything I tell you, I will act on my words. I hope that you keep this a secret, since your little boyfriend doesn't seem to notice anything, and maybe next time I won't have to kill someone to shut you up._

_That is all I have to say for now. I am sorry for not leaving a longer note, but I have to go. I also hope that you are feeling about Laura. She is in a better place not, a world without pain, greed, and suffering Someday, you and I will be in a world like that. Someday soon._

_For now,_

_Yours Awaiting _

* * *

Ginger hid the letter in some pages of her journal along with all the other ones. She flipped to the where she had written previously and added something to her list. 

_**Isabella Rodriguz- 21**_

_**Nora Godwin- 17**_

_**Edna Asheral- 30**_

_**Emma Taylor- 13**_

_**Diana Kesheral- 16**_

_**Laura Foutley- 16**_

The list grew longer. This time, the blood was on Ginger's hands.

* * *

**The end. So what do you think? Long enough? I know this chapter wasn't scary and there was not cliff hanger, but next time I'll do better. The story will pick up and there will be more drama and suspense… Hopefully. **

**Now for the pole. See there is this thing called NCYC I can go to for some church thing. There are pros and cons to this. Cons: It has to do with church, I hate church.**

**Pros: I will be able to see my bestest buddy, Caitlin, who I hadn't seen for ever, but she doesn't know if she is going for the same reasons. What do you think? Leave reviews please.**

**With Love,**

**CT**


	7. Chapter 7

**Is nine days a long enough wait? Sorry for those who reviewed and waited. I love you. I've been working on a project for school. It's about JonBenet Ramsey. It's so sad that it happened to her. She was really pretty to. Damn murderers. Any who back on the topic of the story… I mean back to the story.**

**Stalker Person POV!**

* * *

It's been about three weeks since I had to silence that poor Laura. I almost regret killing her too; she was such a nice girl once you got her to be submissive. I haven't contacted Ginger fighter. I've decided to lay low for a while. And I have been too stressed out thanks to my job. I hate working, it's no fun.

So tonight I decided that I would go out and have some fun. I went to a club. It was packed. Everywhere there was beautiful people, beautiful victims.

I've hit the jackpot. They are everywhere, dressed in their tight clothes. Their leather clothing, their short skirts and halter tops. Their faces and body covered with makeup and glitter. So many perfect, beautiful people. It was time to party.

* * *

I was sitting at the bar, sipping on my drink, when I heard a tap on my shoulder. I turned around. It was girl with black waterfall curls, cascading around her face. Her dark chocolate eyes were surrounded by dark eyeliner and her lids were painted with gold glitter. She was gorgeous. The girl smiled at me nervously.

"Do you want to dance?" she asked.

A smile spread across my face. "Sure."

Her eyes shimmered and her smile widened. I took her by the hand and escorted her to the dance floor. "So tell me, what's your name?"

"Olivia," she answered with a giggle.

"It's beautiful, it matches you perfectly." She giggled again. Blushing too.

"What about you?" she asks.

"Ethan," I say. It's not a complete lie, it's closed enough.

After a couple of song, we went back to the bar to get a few drinks. The poor girl, she could hardly handle two Smirnoffs. Sad.

* * *

She wanted to leave. The drunken Olivia grabbed my hand and led me out the building. We went to my car. I asked her where she lived. After a few moments of stumbling, she managed to get it out. I drove her home. I didn't want her to get in a car accident, that would be too sad to see such a pretty girl die in such a way like that.

I helped her out of the car and lead her to the door. She begged me to come in. I had to smile at this. I got excited, but it died down as soon as I remembered she was drunk. It's no fun kill when they are drunk. They don't really understand then, she wouldn't remember me.

* * *

"Agh, damn headache."

Well, well, well, it looks like Olivia made it. It took only a couple of hours to get her out, but now she was aware of what was going on. "Hey," she greeted me. Her voice was sleepy and filled with trust. I love it. "Why are you here?"

"I couldn't let you stay here by your self, could I? You could have hurt yourself."

And I didn't want her to do that. I wanted to be the one who make her hurt.

Olivia lay back down on the bed and closed her eyes. She looks so beautiful right now. The only ugly thing about her is her breathing. But that can be taken care of.

I took this opportunity to find a knife or something I could use to do the dead. I must be having a good day; I found a butcher knife in the kitchen. When I returned to her dormitory, Olivia was still asleep.

* * *

I walked to the bed in muted steps. From my pocket I took out two pairs of handcuffs. I used these to bind her to the bed. I said her name. Slowly the girl opened her eyes only to find that she was chained to the bed.

"What? Why am I handcuffed?" she asked, looking anxiously around the room. Poor naive girl.

I grab onto her wrist. I put the cold blade of the knife onto her wrist, pressing ever so slightly. Slowly, I drag it down to her elbow. Hear that? It's her scream. It makes me shiver in delight. I love it when they do that; it's music to my ears.

Sweet, warm blood poured from the cut. I carve little Xs on the rest of her arm. She screams more. I take the duct tape that I found downstairs and used it to muffle her cries. I didn't want anyone to know. At least, not yet. I slice up her other arm and her legs. Olivia tries to scream, but it doesn't make it past the duct tape. I move my hands down to her waist and pull off her mini skirt, revealing her lacy black panties. She looked so cute right now.

"What's wrong Olivia?" I asked her as tears began to pour from her eyes. I draw a heart with the blade where her heart is. It's red, it's dripping blood. "Why are you crying? You shouldn't cry. It makes you ugly and being ugly will get you nowhere."

She tries to say something, but it doesn't get past the tape. I rip it off. She whimpers. "Please don't," she begs. "Please stop."

"You're bleeding a lot," I tell her. I think she noticed. "I can help it stop." I leaned over the bedside and grabbed a bottle of alcohol. I poured it over her cuts.

"Please stop!" Olivia screams.

"Why?" I ask, tilting my head to one side. A frown is on my face. "I am only trying to help you. Don't you want help?"

"Please leave me alone."

"Olivia, Olivia, Olivia," I say shaking my head. "What are you so afraid of?" I raise the knife above my head. I bring it down. She is now missing her left pinky. Olivia screams. She pleas. I love it. I repeated my question.

"You," she says shakily.

"Oh," I said thoughtfully. "That makes two of us. I am afraid of me too." This was not a lie. I am deafly afraid of myself. I don't know who I am anymore. It's like I am a new person when I see these girls, when I get them alone, when I see them bleed. I can't help it. Something takes over me.

I place my hand over her heart. It is beating rapidly, like a scared little rabbit. Just like the rest. I wish mine were alive as theirs. Mine is slow. So slow it's like it's not even there. Olivia shivers under my cold hands. I remove it. It is covered with blood.

I look down on Olivia. My expression is blank, but I smile. "I'll miss you. We had so much fun together." I plunged the knife into her throat so she wouldn't be able to scream. Dark liquid spurted out, running down her naked body. She was more gorgeous then ever. I leave the Xs on the bottom of her feet. Then I get up to leave.

No one sees me; no one knows what I have done. I look normal, nothing like a killer. But they don't know. They don't know what's screaming inside. Only those girls know whom the real me is. It rests with them in their graves.

* * *

At home, I take a shower. Then I try to go to bed.

I can't sleep. All I can think about it Olivia. I didn't want to kill her. I truly didn't. But I just can't hold back the feeling. I can't hold back the urge. I need to see the blood. I love to see them bleed. I love their screams, their cries, their delicious death moans. I love it all.

Believe me, if I could, I would stop. Nothing seems like it can though. The police can't catch me, they have very few leads. In a way I want to be caught. But then again, I don't. I want to live, and the only way I feel alive is taking theirs.

I also want to be dead. I don't want to carry this burden anymore. There is no one who understands. There is no one who cares, who will listen. There is no one who can save me.

But I believe there is one. Ginger Foutley, my beloved. I first saw her at the library. She intrigued me. She was so kind to me and offered to help me. No one has ever done that to me before. No one has ever wanted to help. She is so kind, so pretty. She is perfect. I believe that she can save me. I believe she is my angel who will deliver me from this cruel world. I hope that time will come soon.

**

* * *

And I'm done. I know, it sucked and it's not long but oh well. I updated, that should be good enough. So what do you think? I moved it to M just to be safe with the gore and descriptiveness. There will me more to come! He's one crazy motherfucker isn't he? I got to go now. Tell me what you think.**

**With Love**

**CT**


	8. Chapter 8

Math is one of the most boring subjects in school. Just ask any student in any school and you will probably get the same answers from most of the students. "Math sucks" is probably the one that will come up most often. That was the exact thought that Ginger had in her head.

Ginger sat in her desk, her head resting on her left arm as she doodled over her math notes. Her math teacher, Mr. Keller, was standing in the front of the room trying to explain why they would use Algebra in their future lives. He came up with a few, but they didn't have anything to do with what he was supposed to be teaching. "He should just face it and realize that Algebra is pointless and he picked a stupid topic to teach in," Ginger said to herself as she swirled a heart around Elliot's name.

Something hit the back of her head. She turned around to see who it was. Two boys were looking down on their books, trying too look innocent. Their masquerade might have worked if it wasn't for their smirks and snickering.

Ginger just rolled her eyes and looked at the ground to see what had been thrown at her. On the floor laid a paper football. She picked is up and was about to throw it back at them, when she was called on by Mr. Keller. "Yes?" Ginger asked as she twirled around to face the front of the room, the football still in her hand.

"Were you listening at all?"

"Uh, no," she answered.

"Try to pay more attention to the algebra then to the boys, Ms. Foutley."

"Yeah," the two behind her laughed quietly.

"Like I would ever think them like that," Ginger thought to herself. She wouldn't dare say it out loud; she didn't want to get any more trouble or attention from Mr. Keller.

When Mr. Keller went back to rambling the explanation to some problem he had written on the board, Ginger unfolded the paper she was hit with before. She tried to unfold without making any crinkling noise. On the paper was a note written in chicken scratch writing.

Hey, saw you at the library. Do you work there? I'm going after school. Love your not secret admirer. – Eron

It was weird, but she had gotten weirder. "Freshmen are such losers," Ginger said to herself. "Maybe I can have Elliot do something about this."

* * *

After class, Ginger told Elliot what had happened. She didn't get the reaction she thought she would, Elliot laughed instead. "What is wrong with you?" she asked, annoyed.

"What is wrong with you? It was paper!"

"So, you are supposed to want to protect me!"

"From paper?"

"Yes. Even from paper!"

"You're over reacting," Elliot said. "Hey, do you need a ride to work today?"

"No, why?"

"Because I have to go to the library anyways to get some books for my term paper."

"What's the topic?" Ginger asked.

"I don't know."

"Then how do you know what to get?"

"That's why I am going," Elliot explained as if his explanation was as plain as black and white. "I'll find it when I get there."

"Right," Ginger said slowly. "I guess you can give me a ride."

"Yeah, I'll-." He was distracted by some friends. "I'll see you later, Ginger. Oh, and be careful for more paper footballs." And then he left her.

"He is such a jerk," Ginger mumbled to herself.

* * *

Ginger hummed to herself as she placed some books on the shelf. She got a strange feeling. Like the feeling that someone is watching you. But when she looked around, there was noone there, the closest people was some kids playing in the children section. Ginger shrugged off the feeling and went back to doing her work.

She turned around to get some more books to put away. As she did so, she bumped into someone. "Uh, sorry," she apologized. The man she bumped into handed her a book. She studied it and put it back on the shelf. "Thanks."

He didn't leave. He stood in place, frozen like a mannequin in a store. "Do you need something?" Who ever this was, he was starting to creep Ginger out. He looked like an average guy, cut clean hair cut, kaki work pants worn slightly higher then most normal people wear them, and a dark blue sweater.

"Excuse me, Sir, do you need help with finding something?" Ginger asked again. The man's eyelids twitched like he was just waking up from sleep.

"Did you say something?" he asked.

Ginger shivered. There was some strange aura emitting from him that was disturbing. "Do you need help finding something?"

He fell into silence again. "Yes. I am looking for a book called The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold."

"Let me go look on the computer to see if we have it."

Ginger walked over to the section where they had computers for the visitors to use to find books or look up research on the Internet. The man fallowed. He stood right behind her. Ginger shivered again, but covered it up by a remark on how cold it's gotten. Quickly, she typed in the title and author. The page began to lode.

"I'm Ian by the way."

"Did he just talk?" Ginger asked in her thoughts.

"Ginger."

"I know." Ginger turned around to face him. "I heard that one guy call you that earlier. He is your boyfriend, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Ginger said after a long pause of thinking. She turned back to the computer screen. It had finished loading. "Look in adult fiction under the Ss. It should be on the fourth row on the left side." She scribbled down the directions onto some notepaper left beside the computer. "Here you go."

"Thank you. Thank you very much," he said with a smile. His smile was like a twisted jack o' lantern, like he didn't know how to smile. He took the paper and left to find the book.

Ginger sighed and went back to where she was supposed to be restacking the books. "Why do I always get the creepy people?" Ginger asked herself.

* * *

Eron did show up. And his strange little friend was with him. "So," he began to say. "What's up?"

"I'm working. Unless you need help locating something, then please leave me alone."

"I'll leave if you," Eron started to say with a perverted grin, but he had to stop to think about something that he would consider clever to say.

"Yo Gin," Elliot said loudly. Both Eron and Ginger turned to where his voice was coming from. Eron's complexion turned red when he realized whom Elliot was. "Can you check these out for me?"

"No," Ginger said, but she took the books anyways. They were about MPD, people with multiple personality disorder. "What are you getting these for?" She handed the books back to him.

"My paper."

"It's a little more serous the what I would expect from you. I thought you'd do something on a sport."

"Hey, sports are serous," Elliot said. "I don't know why I picked this, but it looks like an interesting topic. And I get to read about crazy people."

"Nice."

Elliot looked at the two people he didn't know standing there. "Who are they?" The two looked at each other to find out what to do.

"These guys are in my math class," Ginger said.

"The paper boys?" Elliot guess by the tone of annoyance in Ginger's voice.

"No!" they exclaimed in unison. Eron and his friend ran away.

Elliot laughed. "Yeah that was them," Ginger said.

"So are you going to check these out for me or not?"

"You have to go to go over there to do that." She pointed over to the check out. A bitter looking old woman stood behind the counter, slamming her fingers into the keyboard of her computer.

Elliot blinked twice. "Oh. Well, I'll guess I'll see you later. Bye my pet." He patted Ginger on the head and went over to get his books checked out.

"Whatever," Ginger said to herself as she watched her boyfriend walk away. He turned around and waved at her. She waved back. "He could have at least waited till I get off and get out of here."

* * *

"Mommy?" a small boy asked quietly. He was in a large shopping center. There had just been a big rush of people and now the boy found himself lost in the crowd and his mother was no where in sight.

"Mommy?" he asked again, this time louder.

No one heard him, no one would answer. He was surrounded by tall people, walking so fast that they didn't notice that they were almost trampling the poor boy. It was crowed and he started to feel dizzy.

The people began to walk faster. The legs began to blur into a mess of black.

"Mommy!" he cried in the darkness. Now he was more lost and didn't know where he was going. He tried to walk around, putting his hands out in front of him to find where he was. "Mommy, where are you! I want to go home…"

Something tapped his shoulder. The boy sharply turned around to see who it was. All he saw was darkness. "Mommy, is that you?" He began to walk over toward the direction he felt the touch. "Mommy?"

He screamed. He had fallen down. Cold tears began to fall from his eyes and tricked down his cheeks. Everything seemed hopeless. He would never find his mother. He would be lost in this darkness for the rest of his life. The boy tried to get himself up, but it was impossible. He felt too heavy and tired to even open his eyes.

Then someone picked him off the ground. On instinct, he held onto the thing tight, thinking that who ever it was that saved him. "Mommy!" he exclaimed happily. He opened his eyes.

It wasn't his mother who was holding him; it was someone who he did not know. He was just about to ask who it was when he was dropped from the person's arms. He fell down to the ground with a hard thud. Something hit the back of his head.

The child laid face down on the invisible floor and was pushed harder down onto the floor. A heel of a foot crushed into the boy's back to hold him down.

He tried to fight it, but he couldn't move. He pleaded for who ever it was to stop, but it was of no use. The only answer that he got was a loud, crewel cackle.

"Stop it!" he begged again. "Please stop!" His face was covered with tears. He could taste the metal sensation of blood in his mouth. The child kept on struggling, but it only made his captor laugh more and push down on him harder.

"Please let me go, I just want to go home."

* * *

Ginger shook herself from her sleep. "What was that about?" she thought feeling panicked. Her breathing was heavy and her heart was racing. After a moment more of wondering about what her dream meant or what it even was, Ginger turned onto her other side and tried to go back to sleep. Hopefully, she hoped that she wouldn't have anymore strange dreams like that.

* * *

**Oh, my, God! I actually updated! Sorry, I would have made it longer but you know school. And I would have updated sooner, but therer was Christmas and lots of stuff going on then. Again I am sorry and I hope you still love. Yeah, I have no idea where that chapter came from. So what does the dream mean? Is it the next victim? Or is it just some random dream? Any ideas anyone? Yeah, I know, it's confusing. But oh well… Thanks for those who read and or reviewed. **

**With Love**

**CT**


	9. Chapter 9

_Ring around the roses_

_A pocket full of posies_

_Ashes, Ashes_

_They all fall down._

_I bet you are familiar with this rhyme. Did you know that it is about death? It's been said that it is about the black plague. Interesting, isn't it? Most nursery rhymes have a morbid side. _

_I am quit fond of nursery rhymes myself. I have a collection of them. That one is one of my favorites. I've been working on my own, but it is not finished yet. _

_I have to go now, but I will be looking for you soon._

_Yours awaiting,_

_Ps. Our time is near_

* * *

Ginger shuttered. Then she crumpled up her newest letter and shoved it into the middle of her trashcan. It had been awhile since she had received one, not since after Laura's funeral. She wanted to tell someone. She wanted to call the police very badly before anyone else was hurt again, but she knew that it wasn't an option. If she did, then she would be putting her family and friends at risk. Their deaths would be worse then strangers, she guessed. Maybe he was done killing.

"Maybe he left something else. Some sort of evidence," Ginger thought.

She went outside to where she had received most of the letters. They were usually hidden among the shrubs growing along the side of a wall. First she checked the branches to see if anything was caught in them. There was nothing but leaves. Ginger kneeled onto the grass and crawled a short ways into the bushes to see if she could find anything in the dirt. Again, she turned up empty handed. There was no footprints or any other signs that a person had been there. Sighing in defeat and annoyance that her hair was stuck in some of the branches, Ginger pulled out of the bushes and started to go back into the house.

"Hey, Ginger!" someone yelled. Ginger looked over in the direction of the voice. It was Dodie on her bike. "Do you want to come for a ride with me?"

"Sure," Ginger answered back.

* * *

They went to the garage to get Ginger's pink bike. For the first five minutes of their bike ride, Dodie talked about a new routine they had to learn in cheerleading. It was supposed to be pretty easy, but the freshman could never get it right. That made Dodie pissed off because she had to stay later then she had planned on so she missed the first half of one of her favorite shows. Ginger barely paid any attention. She would occasionally nod or agree with what ever her friend was ranting about.

"So what's new with you?" Dodie said, suddenly changing the subject.

Ginger wondered if it would be safe to tell Ginger about her secret stalker. Of course that would be a stupid mistake. Anyone who would be foolish enough to trust Dodie with a deadly secret, such as the one Ginger was keeping, should not be allowed to breed with anyone lower then a C average, in the least, because of their stupidity. The world has enough thickheaded people and we don't need anymore.

Realizing that it would be a mistake since Dodie would tell everyone and anyone who would listen, Ginger kept her mouth shut on the subject and instead said, "Nothing really."

"What about you and Elliot? How are things going with that?"

"We're good, I guess."

Dodie sighed. "I wish I had a boyfriend. I hate being single."

"Maybe next time you talk to a guy you shouldn't bring up Jake." Dodie began to drift off into memories of her ex. "See what I mean?"

"What? I am completely over him!"

"Really?" Ginger asked, raising an eyebrow. "Completely?"

"Yes, I am. I hardly remember him. I don't even care if he came up to me right this moment and asked me out."

"Well I guess you can tell him that yourself. He's right behind us."

"Where?" Dodie asked excitedly. She turned around to see her beloved Jake.

"Dodie, I was only kidding!"

Dodie was paying too much attention on finding him that she lost control of her bike and ran into Ginger. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ginger!" she exclaimed as she got up from the street. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ginger shoved the cool, metallic bike off from on top of her.

"I am so sorry!"

"It's ok," Ginger repeated. Dodie helped pull her friend up off the ground.

"See, not even a scratch," Ginger said, showing Dodie that she was all right to calm her down. Dodie was still not completely convinced.

"I'm sorry," she said for a final time.

"Dodie, I already told you. It is ok. I'm fine!"

"I know, I'm just so sorry!"

"I would have never guessed." Ginger set her bike up right and hopped back on. "Are you ready to go?"

"Go where?"

"I don't know. I thought you knew where we were going."

"Let's get some ice cream," Dodie suggested.

"It's fall. It's too cold for ice cream."

"Ginger, it is never too cold for ice cream."

Ginger smiled. "I guess you're right."

* * *

They road their bikes to the only place that sold ice cream all year round, Dairy Queen. When they stepped inside, Ginger was crestfallen to see that one of her stalkers was there. Eron stood behind the counter, writing down peoples' orders.

"Let's go somewhere else," Ginger said, already starting to leave.

"No! I want to get some ice cream!"

"We can go somewhere else."

"But Dairy Queen is the only place fricken open!" Dodie complained.

"Fine, just don't act like a whiny little kid."

"I wasn't!"

"What ever you say, Deidre Bishop."

Their turn came next. "What would you like today?" Eron asked, not looking up from the paper.

"I will take a vanilla and chocolate twist with nuts," Dodie said. "And what do you want, Ginger?"

Eron looked up on hearing Ginger's name. He smirked. "A small strawberry cone," she mumbled.

"What ever you say, sugar. I'll be right back with your ice cream." Eron winked at both girls and went back to get the ice cream. Dodie and Ginger stood waiting at the counter.

"What was that about?" Dodie asked. Ginger was about to say something when Dodie went right back on talking. "Do you think he likes me? Wasn't he totally checking me out?"

"Sure."

"Oh my God, I hope so! He's so cute!"

"He's annoying," Ginger said dully.

"What are you talking about? I think he seems nice."

"Yeah, but I know him personally. He's in my Algebra class and he's a pain in the ass."

"You know him! What's his name?"

"Eron," Eron said, walking in right on cue. In his hands he held both the twist and strawberry cones. "Here you go. That will be $2.00."

"It's supposed to be $2.75," Ginger said, digging into her pocket. "If you are going to have a job as a cashier or what ever you are, then learn how to add."

"I knew what it was. I was just being nice and taking off seventy five cents," Eron said, grinning. Dodie looked like she was about to swoon. Ginger rolled her eyes. "I feel sorry for your boyfriend. He has to put up with and your attitude."

"I don't have a boyfriend!" Dodie blurted out.

"That's fascinating." Eron counted the money on the counter. "Ok, you guys can leave now. You're starting to bug me."

Dodie waved good-bye as Ginger pulled her out of the building.

* * *

"Hey, slow down! I'm doing to drop my ice cream!" Ginger let go of her arm. They sat down on one of the blue benches outside. "He seemed nice."

"Who?" Ginger asked. She took a lick of her ice cream.

"Eron."

"Are you being serious?"

"Yeah, why don't you like him?"

"He can be a little prick sometimes."

Dodie paused to eat some of her ice cream. "Do you think I would have a chance with him? I mean, like, don't guys like older woman?"

"He does," Ginger mumbled under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Dodie went on talking. "Or do you think it would be strange since he is younger? Doesn't that make me look desperate?"

"It doesn't matter as long as you like each other," Ginger said. "And it's legal and it's not like you are twenty years older then him. I say it's fine."

"Good! Now we just got to think of a plan to get his attention!"

"Why don't you just talk to him?"

"I can't do that!" Dodie exclaimed. "I'd stuttered and embarrass myself! Then I would never have a chance. Maybe I'll write him a note or something."

"Are you still living in elementary school? Just talk to him and get it over with. And if he doesn't like you then screw him, you can find another guy."

"I don't know," Dodie sighed. "Maybe you're right."

"I am."

The conversation died and they finished up their ice cream in silence. "Should we go home now?" Dodie asked.

"Sure," Ginger said as she got up from the bench. The girls got their bikes and began to ride back to Ginger's house.

* * *

On the way back, Dodie almost ran into someone again. She applied numerous times to the man before she could get over. It was hard to tell what he looked like. He wore a heavy winter coat close to him and a baseball hat shading his eyes. He was a very big man; he had to be at least six feet and more on the chunky side. What Ginger thought was strange about his attire was that he was wearing a winter coat. It was chilly out, but it was not cold enough to resort to wearing a heavy coat.

After Dodie had called down enough, they began to ride again. Ginger looked behind to her to get one last look at the guy. He had changed his original direction. He was now walking in the same direction Ginger and Dodie were going.

"Hey, do you see that?" Ginger whispered to her friend.

"What?"

"That guy, he's fallowing us."

"Are you sure?"

"Let's find out." Ginger turned the other way on the corner and Dodie fallowed. They looked behind them. It was just as Ginger suspected, they were being fallowed.

"Do you think he's mad at me?" Dodie asked. Her eyes had grown wide with fear and her heartbeat has sped up to twice as what it was.

"I don't know," Ginger said. "Let's pick up the speed. Maybe we'll lose him." They peddled harder then they had their whole biking career. What they did not notice was that as the sped away, the person who was supposedly stalking them walked to the door of a pet shop and disappeared inside.

* * *

"That was so freaky!" Dodie said as she played with the ends of her blond her. It was no longer worn in the typical pigtails. She had tossed those away along with everything else she was in middle school once high school came around. Now it was a little past the shoulders and she spent hours in the morning straightening her hair. "Do you think he fallowed us here?" She went to the window to see if there was anyone standing in the yard.

"No," Ginger said. She flipped to the next page of the magazine she was looking at.

"Who do you think he was?" Do you think he knew us?"

Ginger sighed loudly. She was getting tired of all of Dodie's questions. It seemed to be the only thing she was doing today. "No," Ginger answered. "He's probably just some guy. Maybe he wasn't even fallowing us."

"But you saw it! You even said he was."

"I don't know for sure. It's not like I know what he is thinking."

"You have to admit that it was scary."

"Sure," Ginger said as she flipped to other page. She did not want to admit to Dodie, but she was probably more scared then she was. It felt like she knew the person and what he wanted. Ginger couldn't see his face, but the guy gave her a strange, cold feeling.

* * *

"Now what to name you?" said a man. He watched a black and white rabbit hop about in a cardboard box. "How about Freda? After her." The last part was spoken in a much darker voice. His hands leapt for the rabbit, but he held them back before he could strangle the poor then.

"Yes, that will do. Then I can do to you what I've always wanted to do to her."

He went over to a dusty table. This is where he displayed all of his sharp and rusted tools, or toys, as he liked to call them. He picked of a screwdriver and held it up.

"This will do," he thought. He walked over to the box and looked down on the bunny. It had stopped hopping. Freda was now just sitting still.

"Do you think it hurts to die?" he asked. He set the screwdriver down and replaced it with the rabbit. They studied each other's faces. Suddenly, the human began to violently shake the rabbit.

"Well do you? Do you think it hurt to die?" he screamed at the poor thing. The rabbit began to squeal in terror. The shaking stopped, but the animal was still frightened. He pressed two fingers up to the furry chest to feel its heart. The organ thumped in a rapid pace against the fingers. The rabbit was placed back into the box.

"Now let's see if we can answer that question." He picked up the screwdriver. "Doesn't that sound like a good idea?"

He lifted the weapon up over the shivering rabbit and brought it down swiftly. The poor creature screamed out as it was struck on the leg.

"Damn it I missed," he cursed. "We'll have to try again, I guess."

This time, he got it in the neck. The black and white rabbit was dead, but that did not stop him from continuing to stab it.

"Does it hurt? Does it hurt?" he shouted. "You deserve this. You deserve to die. You deserve it all! I fucking hate you Freda you fucking whore!"

It stopped. The attacks stopped and all fell silent. He looked at the blood on the screwdriver and the blood splattered hands that held it. He looked at the rabbit that he had spent his paycheck on buy. It seemed like a waste to most people to murder something that you spent just about all of your money on. But to him it was like a stress ball. He would squeeze and torture it until it was all used up.

He put the rabbit into a garbage bag that he would dispose of later. Then he went to the bathroom to wash away the blood, the crime. And his pain.

* * *

**That's the end of that chapter. What do you think? I think I figured out the rest of the story. There will most likely be 14 chapters. That's all I have to say for now.**

**With Love**

**CT**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello my beloved readers! I have come bringing a new chapter. And that is all I am going to say for now so that you can read the chapter.**

* * *

A scene was being acted out on a dark stage. It was nearly too dark to see, but there was enough light to make out the outline of the main characters. The actors cannot be seen. "Why do you think you can do this to me?" **_Smack!_** The sound of a hand slapping a face. "Do you think you are better then me? Do you want to be miserable?"

"I just wanted to tell you-."

"I know I heard you the first time! You are a liar! A stupid fucking liar! And do you know what happens to little children who lie?" The boy shook his head no. "They go to Hell" After this statement; the boy's head was knocked into the wall. His mind began to spin. His vision was slightly blurred by the impact of the hit.

"I'm sorry," he murmured as he rubbed this injured head.

"You better be, or you will be going there sooner then you think."

Loud footsteps clunk off the stage. She was gone. The room goes pitch black. A new scene had begun.

Now the boy was sitting on the floor, in the arms of an unknown person. They were conversing in whispers. The tone was soft, in a comforting way. The larger actor was stroking the smaller one's hair. Silver tears glistened brightly as the trickled down his cheeks and fell to the floor with a plink.

They pull into a tight hug. The elder says something else to which the youngster nods to. They also exit, leaving the stage completely empty.

* * *

Ginger sat on her bed with her journal opened on her lap.

_**Isabella Rodriguz- 21**_

_**Nora Godwin- 17**_

_**Edna Asheral- 30**_

_**Emma Taylor- 13**_

_**Diana Kesheral- 16**_

_**Laura Foutley- 16**_

_**Olivia Mill- 21**_

_**Vianne Brooklyn- 15**_

_There have been two new victims since I had last written. The most recent one was found this morning. She was just like all the others, tortured before she was murdered. This is my entire fault. I should say something. He knows that I know that he is doing this to them all. And I don't think he will stop until he gets me. Who knows, I may be next._

_In some ways I hope I am. Then this wills all be over for everyone else and no one else will have to suffer. I feel so selfish for not wanting to say anything because I am scared for what will happen to me. And for not just giving myself up to who ever this guy is so he will just leave everyone alone. He wouldn't kill me, I think. He loves me too much or that is what I have come up in the letters he has sent me. Maybe if I keep thinking, I'll find a plan for everyone to get out of this alive. Except him. He should die a horrible, painful death for being the monster he is. I hope this wish comes true._

_I have some strange news. Carl has a girl friend. I know! Who would have ever thought that my gross little brother would have a girl friend? He's only in the eighth grade, so Mom isn't too happy about it. But Carl is head over heals for this girl. It's so weird! I've never seen him like this before! All that I know about her is that her name is Adina and she has blonde hair. Or it might have been brown. I really don't remember. Carl was talking fast and all that I really understood was that her name is Adina. He seemed really embarrassed. Wow, Carl embarrassed, that is something I am not used to. This could be fun._

_I've been having these strange dreams lately. I've had two so far and they were both about someone that I don't know. Or at least I don't think I know. Maybe it's a foreshadow. Maybe it's just a dream. I don't know. I try not to focus on them too much. Dreams are dreams, and dreams aren't real._

_I have to work again. I was thinking about asking for a raise in pay, but I doubt that will happen. Jessica, the librarian and my boss, is such a cross old bitch. I don't think I have ever seen her smile. It's probably not even possible. It makes my work even duller. Don't get me wrong, I like working there sometimes, but for the other times it's very boring._

_Speaking of work, I should be going. When I get back I will tell you everything that has happened. That is, if anything happens._

* * *

Ginger clicked her pen to close, hid away her journal again, and went to her closet to get a nicer top to wear. She was changed into a long sleeved white shirt and a short sleeved pink hooded sweatshirt over that. It was a plus to her job, there was no uniform and she did not have to dress formally.

* * *

At least Ginger had some company at work today. Elliot was there, but he was hardly paying any attention to her. He had found a new love for reading in the sports section. Things were going mildly well. That is, until Ginger got another visit from one of her most annoying admirers. Eron had come to pay her another visit.

"What the hell you doing here?"

"It's a public library. That means that it open to the public."

"You are such a smart ass," said the red headed girl as she rolled her eyes. "What did you want?"

"Books, that is what a library is for. Isn't it?"

"Then why aren't you looking for some?"

"I thought I would just stop by and say hello to you first."

Ginger bit her bottom lip feeling highly annoyed. "What ever." She turned in the opposite direction of Eron and began to walk away.

"You know," he said, fallowing her. "You don't have to be such a bitch about everything. Can't you just stop working for once and take time to talk to people?"

"What the fuck did you just call her?" asked an angry voice from behind them.

"A bitch," Eron said, unaware that he was talking to Elliot. Both Eron and Ginger turned around. Eron's complexion turned rather pale, while Ginger's feeling were the opposite.

"And why the hell did you call her that?" Elliot asked as he advanced toward the other boy. Eron began to back away. Ginger took a step aside to watch. A smirk was printed on her face. Finally Elliot was doing something about it.

"I-."

Elliot didn't let him finish his sentence. "I first didn't have a problem with you throwing those fucking paper balls at her, but once you insult my girlfriend you are going to fucking regret it." Ginger's smirk began to fade a little. Something about Elliot's tone was a little off to her. "You better start praying that I don't smash your skull in you little punk." Elliot grabbed onto Eron's shirt tightly.

"Ok, Elliot," Ginger spoke up. "I think he gets it."

"No, Ginger, you wanted me to shut him up and I'm doing it now. Make up your damn fucking mind!" He moved his hands to around Eron's neck and first squeezing lightly as an early threat.

"Elliot, let go! What has gotten into you?" exclaimed Ginger as she tried to break her boyfriend off of Eron, who was now looking terrified. But he didn't let go just yet. He gave one tighter squeeze before releasing Eron.

"If I see you near my girl again, I swear to God that I will fucking kill you. Do you understand that?" Eron nodded. "Then get the fuck out of here before I deicide to kill you." And at this, Eron walked quickly away.

Ginger stood there, staring at Elliot feeling stunned. "What was that about?"

"You wanted me to do something about it."

"Yeah, but in a civil way! I didn't want you to kill him!"

"I didn't, but I should have," said Elliot, still feeling very steamed. "How dare he call you a bitch when he is nothing more then that. And with me around! Is he that fucking retarded? If you ever even tries to even talk to you, tell me and will hunt him down and beat him."

"Ok, Elliot. Just calm down."

"How the heck am I supposed to be calm? Did you not hear what he called you?"

"Yes, I did," Ginger said slowly. "And it's not that big of a deal."

"Oh, so now you don't even appreciate what I did for you."

"I do! But next time don't be so rash."

"If there is a next time I will be more then rash!"

"Elliot, I know that you are my boyfriend and you feel like you have to protect me, but I'm fine. It's just a word, I'll get over. And you need to too. Now come on and help me stack some books. Maybe it will take your mind off of this."

* * *

There it is, the next one. I have found my newest treasure. Of course it was more like one of those plastic rings children get out of quarter machines in grocery stores. It looks pretty at first. But then you see the real jewel and then it is nothing but a dull plastic. That is when you dispose of it so you can get the next best thing.

And the time is near for me to claim the real treasure.

* * *

**And that is it for now. It's pretty longish I guess. So what do you think? Another dream! And another strange one. That's all I got to say for now.**

**With Love**

**CT**


	11. Chapter 11

**I got a haircut! Yay! Well, it wasn't cut so I technically got my hair done. There is no more dye now. Strange, I know. Now it is platinum blonde and I preferably curl it like Marilyn Monroe, but my left eye is covered with bangs. Yay for curls! Ok, you don't want to hear about my hair. On with the story!

* * *

**

A week after Elliot's blow up, Ginger was sitting in the kitchen, preparing her breakfast of cereal and toast. She was walking to the table when she spotted the newspaper lying near the door. It was still wrapped up and unread. Ginger was never one to read the paper, but something was telling her that she should.

After setting down the toast and bowl, Ginger walked over to retrieve the paper. She sat down in her chair and removed to rubber band that was binding the paper in place. The front story made Ginger's brain stop momentarily. This is unbelievable, it has to be a hoax, she thought to herself. This just couldn't be true.

The title Ginger Foutley was gawking at was the not the daily weather do not report nor was it about the story of the man who had grown an overly sized onion. The particular story that caught her attention was title "Suspect in the Mass Murder of Shelter Shrub Girls".

"They couldn't have," Ginger said to herself. She read the first paragraph.

* * *

"_Lat night the Sheltered Shrub police force made in an arrest in the recent killings of many girls. With the recent disappearance of another citizen, Eron Micus, the police were able to find a suspect. _

_The police have released a name and we are the first ones to get it. Elliot MacCannaly, age seventeen, was arrested last night on the deaths of all eight murders and the suspicious disappearance of Micus. It was been released that MacCannaly has ties with all of the victims. He is currently being held at the police station for questioning."_

* * *

"What the bloody Hell," Ginger thought out loud. She scanned over the article again. "This can't be right. Elliot could not have done this." She had known that Eron was missing, it was all that the school was talking about, but she thought maybe he had gone off with his dad or something. Everyone kind of figured that it was his dad that had taken him because of the bloody custody battle the Micus adults were going through. She never thought that Eron could be a victim, or that is what the newspaper was pointing to.

Ginger ran back up to her room to change out of her pajamas quickly, leaving her breakfast behind.

* * *

Being a Saturday morning, Ginger had plenty of time left to get ready for work so she was able to get to the police station. She did not have her driver's license yet so she had to improvise with her bike. Downtown was a good two miles away and it normally took her ten minutes to get there when she was taking her time, but this was not a day to waste time. Ginger peddled as fast as she could to get to the station. When she reached there, it felt like her legs had melted into Jell-O.

"Are you ok, Madame?" a woman asked as Ginger came through the door. Ginger looked like she was in a mess. Her hair was falling from her ponytail and her cheeks had turned a cherry red. Ginger's knees gave out and she fell to the floor. The woman behind the desk rushed to her aide. People passing through the room stopped to help or just stood there and watched. "Are you ok?" she repeated. Ginger nodded her head vigorously. She tried to say something, but her thoughts were stopped by the shortness of her breath. "What?"

"I need," Ginger panted out. She stopped again to get more of her breath back.

"What? What do you need? Did something happen to you?"

Ginger nodded her head no. "I need to see Elliot. Elliot MacCannaly."

"Why?"

"I have to. He's my boyfriend, I need to talk to him."

"I'm sorry, but we can't do that. He is under police custody right now."

"But I need to see him!"

"I'm sorry, Miss, but like I said-."

"I need to! Please it's urgent. I have to find out if it's true," Ginger said with pleading eyes.

The secretary looked around at the group that had gathered around them. She gave them a small glare to warn them off. Slowly, everyone left. "Ok," she said, "I will try and see what I can do. I wouldn't get your hopes up though."

A wide grin spread on Ginger's face. "Thank you! Thanks so much!" Her smile was returned and the woman left the room. Ginger waited in a chair, rapping her fingernails on the wooden arm.

* * *

What ten minutes that passed seemed like hours to Ginger. She rarely took her eyes off the door unless it was to look at the clock. How long does it take to asking a fucking question? Ginger thought as she ground her teeth together.

Another person had entered the room and sat down next to her. Ginger took notice to him for a second. He looked like a stoner. "Yo," he said.

Ginger looked at him. "Hey," she said. She turned her focus back onto the door with a hint of disturbance or disgust in her features.

"What are you in here for?"

What?"

"What did you do to get here?"

Ginger turned back to the stranger. "Nothing, I did nothing. I'm waiting for someone." The guy nodded deeply.

"That's cool," he said. "Who you waiting for?"

"That is no one's business besides mine," Ginger snapped. He snorted and mumbled "what ever" and went back to his own business.

The woman came back through the door. Ginger almost jumped up from her seat on seeing her. She watched her carefully while the woman walked over to her.

"Hey, Percy," she said. Percy yoed and pretend to play the drums on his knees. The secretary began to walk back to her desk. Ginger felt confused, so she fallowed her.

"So," Ginger said as the lady sat down in her chair.

"So what?"

"Can I talk to him or not?"

"Nope." She began to type on her computer.

"Why?"

"I already told you," she said without looking up from the screen. "We can't do that."

"Why?"

"Because, your presence or anyone else's could make him change his story and ruin the whole case," she said simply.

"I won't say anything that will make him change his mind. I just want to ask him some questions."

"Which could make him change his story. I'm sorry, but you will have to wait for him to be released. Have a nice day."

"But I-."

"Good bye."

"What if I just-."

"Good bye now."

Ginger scowled on seeing that she had to face defeat. She turned on her heel and headed for the door. Percy waved to her on the way out. "I'll have a nice fucking day you," Ginger growled as she got back onto her bike.

* * *

"I guess I'll just have to talk to him later," Ginger said to herself. Her anger was starting to go away. "It shouldn't take long. What is there to tell? He didn't do anything. He couldn't have."

Or could he? Ginger began to think. He did seem very angry with Eron that day over something small. He might have hit him or something, but he would never kill anyone. Ginger didn't know what to think anymore. First there was that side of Elliot that she had never seen, the furious and a little mad side. He had even sworn to hunt him down. But Elliot couldn't kill one person let alone all of those others.

It was also odd, Ginger thought that he didn't seem too worried about the stalker and the notes she had been receiving. Hell, he hadn't been worried at all. "Maybe he didn't have to worry because it was him and he knew that he wouldn't hurt her," Ginger guessed. She shook her head. "No, no that can't be right. I'm losing my mind. I need to remember, innocent until proven guilty."

* * *

"So tell us one more time," a tall man asked slowly. "What did you do after leaving the library?"

"I went home."

"Did you stay home all night?"

"No."

"Where else did you go?"

"I went for a walk. It was around ten thirty or something."

"Why did you want to go for a walk that late at night?"

Elliot shrugged. "I don't know. I was still frustrated from the library so I decided I would go for a walk to see if it would help get rid of it."

"And did it?"

Elliot shrugged again. "I guess so."

"And who did you meet on that walk?" the other integrator asked roughly.

"No one," Elliot said in a whispered voice.

"Oh really? I think it's kind of hard to be walking around outside and not seeing anyone besides yourself."

"I didn't see anyone that I knew."

"I've heard different."

"What are you talking about?"

"Elliot," the other man, the one with the black hair said. "We have a witness who says he saw you arguing with Eron around eleven that night." Elliot said nothing in his defense. He put his focus on his slightly shaking hands.

"It was more then just talking," the angrier interrogator said. "You were reported being seen punching him in the nose." Elliot still kept his mouth shut. "But you didn't stop there. No, you took it much further. You turned it into an all out brawl, but did he fight back?" He did not wait for Elliot to answer the question. He went right on talking. "No, he didn't. He told you to stop and for you to leave him alone. He was telling you he was sorry. But you didn't care. All that you cared about was that you got your revenge. Even when he was on the ground you didn't stop. The only thing that made you was some people that decided to end it. And it took four people just does that. After the fight, Eron took off with out getting any help and you stayed where you were to apparently to cool off."

"Do you have anything to say?" the black haired man asked calmly.

"I didn't do anything else," Elliot said, taking his attention away from his hands. "I let him go. He's probably still alive."

"No, he's not."

"How do you know?"

"It's our job," the elder one said.

"His body was found last night."

"And do you know how he was found?" Elliot shook his head. "He was in a ditch. Do you know how he died?" Elliot shook his head again. "He was strangled. But it wasn't just that. That was the thing that took away his life. Before that he was brutally tortured and kept alive for around a week. He was freshly dead when he was found"

"How do you know that he was?"

"The autopsy. He was missing two fingers and most of his finger nails had been broken away."

"In a way that made it seem like self defense," his co-worker interrupted.

"But that is not all. Cuts were found through out his body, including the two Xs on his feet. There were bite marks covering his neck. Do you want to take a guess what happened?" Elliot began to look very uncomfortable.

"He was raped. Do you remember saying something along the lines "I will fucking kill you if I ever see you again." Or how about, "I'm going to fuck you until your eyes are popping out your skull. Then we will see who's sorry." Do you remember saying that when you were beating some one younger then you when they were on the ground? Maybe when you said it, you meant it literally."

"I didn't touch him," Elliot said. Tears began to cloud his eyes. "I know what you are thinking, but I'm not like that."

"Not like what?"

"I'm not a fag!"

"No one said you were," said the black haired man calmly.

"We know what you did to those other girls," the other went on, not letting the interrogation take a break. "We know that you knew each and everyone of them."

"No I don't."

"Really?" He pulled out his files and scanned the page. "It says here that Isabella Rodriguz used to work at the same restaurant as you. Some employees said you seemed to be very good friends and that you once had a crush on her, but she turned you down because you were too young for her."

"Edna Asheral was a friend of your sister. In fact she was a bridesmaid at your sister's wedding two years ago. But their relationship turned sour after Edna was caught having an affair with your sister's husband."

"Nora Godwin was in your class. She was once your girl friend too back in your freshman year. Her friends said that they you ended the relationship peacefully but maybe you weren't taking it as well as everyone else thought."

"Olivia Mill. She used to be your baby sitter. You guys didn't get along well. She was fired for complaints of having her boyfriends over while she baby-sat you. You were kept for hours locked in a closet or your room until your parents got home."

"Diana Kesheral was in your fourth grade class. I bet you don't forget her name. She humiliated you that year at the Valentines party. You two got into a fight over something and she won. Later on she pulled down your pants in front of everyone and according to some people that we have been talking to, you started to cry like a girl. You've held that grudge against her since and have even said that one day you will get revenge on her. Is taking her life good enough revenge for you?"

"Emma Taylor was your neighbor. Some of your other neighbors said that you once said some vulgar and perverted things to her. And then she told her older brother and you guys got in a fight. Apparently you have a thing for people younger and less defenseless the you."

"Vianne Brooklyn was working with you up until her murder. You two didn't get along, did you? She got a promotion before you did and this made you mad. You said you deserved it because you were older and had been working there longer. After her rank had gone up, you could hardly stand being near her."

"And Laura Foutley," he conclude. "She is the cousin of your girlfriend. You never met her before, but you knew about her from your girlfriend. What was your motive for killing her?"

Elliot was back looking at his hands. "And we all already know about Eron. He said something to your girl friend, you got mad, and then you killed him."

"I didn't kill anyone! I don't know who did, but it wasn't me!"

"You have no solid alibi for any of the nights of the murders," said the calmer one.

"Why is that?" asked the other.

Elliot ground his teeth together. His head was pounding. His eyes were soar from the salt from the tears that had spilled. All he wanted to do right now was go to sleep. "I'm not going to say anything," Elliot said. He looked up at the two officers. "I won't say anything until I have my lawyer." He had already said too much anyways. His father had told him not to say anything until he could find a good enough lawyer. The two interrogators sighed, one angrily and one tiredly, and left the room.

"We'll be back," the older one said before he shut the door.

* * *

**With Love,**

**CT**


	12. Chapter 12

**Did anyone miss me? No? I thought so. I shouldn't write another chapter for you guys since you are being such assholes, but I shall anyways.

* * *

**

At school on Monday was an awkward time for Ginger. Everyone knew about Elliot, of course, but Ginger seemed to be the only one that thought he was innocent. Now even Ginger was starting to wonder if she was right. There had not been any more murders since Elliot was arrested. She didn't want to believe. She forced out all doubt in her mind that Elliot had done this. Some one had to stick by his side.

Elliot wasn't officially arrested yet. Two days had past since his interrogation, but Elliot's lawyers and the detectives could not come to an agreement on what should be done. Elliot was lucky that his father had hired one of the best lawyers in the state to defend him. He was stubborn and knew just about every law book from cover to cover. This was bad news to the police though. They were having a hard enough time as it was on getting Elliot to confess. They had come so close, but he pulled the lawyer card. Now they had to more research to make sure it would be a stable case in court.

The news on the murderers had broken into national news and for once Sheltered Shrubs was hectic. The change was interesting, but that mood soon started to expire, for Ginger. She knew that it was only a matter of time that someone will spill that she is the girlfriend of the supposive murderer. And who knows what kind of image that they might to transform her into. Ginger found it a bit surprising that no one has said anything yet. Everyone at school knew about her relationship with Elliot. Anyone of them could have ratted her out to the press for money. But no one had, yet. Everyone knew, but the all remained silent.

And for that reason Ginger now hated school. Just about every person, including faculty and staff, would stare at her when they saw her pass by. They would whisper to each other, watching her with questioning eyes. They never said what they were whispering to her face. That pissed Ginger off. Every time she saw someone staring at her, she wanted to punch them. But that would make her look bad or even crazy because of what Elliot was accused of doing. They could think that she had something to do with it. So Ginger kept her anger to herself and tried her best to ignore it.

Her mother had to drive her to school now that she had lost her ride. Ginger slowly walked up to the building. People were already starting. Two girls watched Ginger enter the building. Ginger glanced at them but went inside with out saying what she wanted to tell them.

* * *

For once Ginger was happy to be in her algebra class. Everyone was feeling too dead to talk. Most of the class had fallen asleep. Ginger was part of the percentage that was sleeping. Mr. Keller's monotoned voice was the perfect tool to put her into a restful slumber. 

Mr. Keller coughed loudly which awoke nearly everyone who was sleeping. "I see that I got your attention," he said. "I don't know why you people are always sleeping in this class. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but this is getting old." A light snoring could be heard. Mr. Keller turned to the source of the sound.

"Mrs. Foutley," he said as he rapped the wooden meter stick on her desk. Ginger jumped from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at her teacher.

"Did you ask something?"

"Yes, why is it I get no respect from this or any class?"

"Because you suck at teaching?" a male student inquired. A few people laughed. The rest covered their mouths to hide their smiles knowing that it would only make Mr. Keller feel even madder.

Mr. Keller payed no attention to the comment. "So, Ms. Foutley, what do you think is the answer?"

Ginger to a fragment of a moment to think about this. It was best to get it over with. "Because nobody likes Algebra?"

He stared at her blankly. "How could you not?"

"Too much thinking?" Ginger said, taking a guess.

Mr. Keller shook his head sadly. "That is what is wrong with this generation. You don't want to do anything that has thinking involved in it."

"You have to think to play Xbox," said one student.

"You don't like to do anything that has thinking unless there is flashy images and loud sound affect, excuse me," Mr. Keller corrected himself.

"It's ok."

He glared at the student. "I've had enough of this. Maybe I won't come to school tomorrow. Maybe I should just quit since it is obvious that none of you are learning anything. Class is over for today, you can just talk for the rest of the time." On hearing this, Ginger laid her head down to get some more sleep. "I need to see you after school, Ms. Foutley."

Ginger looked up. "Me?"

"Yes, you."

"Why? What did I do?"

"You will find out when the time comes. I think you would prefer to keep it private."

Ginger furrowed her eyebrows together and was about to ask why but she decided it was best to wait.

* * *

_At the police station_

* * *

Elliot was back in the interrogation room, but this time he had his lawyer with him. They sat one side of the table facing Andrew Boyd, the less patient interrogator from the last time Elliot had conversed with them. Elliot was glancing at the wall, waiting for the questions to begin. Two or three minutes had passed, but no one had said anything yet. The room was silent with the acceptation of Calvin Loomis, the MacCannaly lawyer, tapping his fountain pen against the table. 

"Is anyone going to say anything?" he asked. "If not, you are wasting my time and I have other things to do." Andrew Boyd did not respond. He was looking at the pictures of the people who had been murdered. "Would you ask some questions? Some people have family events that they need to go to, like their daughter's birthday."

"Don't you give me any family crap," said Boyd, not looking up from the photographs. "I know that family is important and I don't want to keep you. But family is also why I'm here."

Mr. Loomis sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Then what is keeping you? You can not hold my client here for nothing."

"Just thinking about what I wanted to say." Andrew Boyd looked up directly at Elliot. "Do you know why we are here?" he asked.

"Because you think I killed those people?"

Boyd shook his head. "That's the general idea. Did you know that we weren't going to do this today?" Elliot shook his head no. "The original plan was to wait until we got some DNA evidence back. But I wanted to hear something important from you." He paused to think of a way to say it. Calvin Loomis watched him intently. He was still playing with the fountain pen. "I want you to tell me about the last time you saw Eron. I want you to tell in the in best details that you remember."

"I didn't kill him!"

"I wasn't saying you did."

"You think I did! You think I killed them all! But I didn't, I didn't do it!"

Loomis silenced him. "Just tell what happened."

"I didn't do it though! I already told them! I saw him; we got into a fight and that is it. That was all. I didn't rape him or kill him or anything!"

"You did not get into a fight. A fair fight, that is. He was younger then you, he was smaller then you, and you took any advantage you could to make sure he would stay on ground. That didn't stop you either."

"But I didn't kill him!"

"Then tell me what happened after the fight if you are so innocent."

"I don't have to. I don't have to say anything if I don't want to," said Elliot with a smug smirk.

"Sounds like the words of a guilty man."

"I'm not guilty."

"Then you have nothing to hide."

Elliot and Andrew began a stare down. Loomis sat back and watched feeling rather amused. "I did not do anything," Elliot said sternly. "We got into that fight and that was the last time I saw him."

"Tell me about the last time you saw him."

"I already told you everything!"

"No, you haven't. You're lying. It just didn't end after your attack, you saw him once more."

"What are you talking about?"

"Another witness came forward," Boyd went on. "He was getting his cat from outside when he saw you talking to Eron. That was after what you told me. He was going to report something to the police when he saw that the younger one looked badly injured. But he didn't because he saw them walking away with each other and thought they were brothers. Do you know what am I talking about?" Elliot said nothing. "Now, do you want to tell me what happened then?"

"No." Elliot looked at his lawyer. "I want to go now."

Mr. Loomis looked at his watch. "Sounds good to me. I'm going to be late for entertaining a bunch of bratty kids. Let's go." The two got up out of their seats.

"I never told you the reason why I wanted to be the one who questioned you."

* * *

After school, Ginger went Cian Keller's room. "Did you want to see me about something?" she asked she walked through the door. 

Mr. Keller looked up from the papers he was checking. "Yes, just take a seat up here."

Ginger closed the door behind her and walked up to the front desk. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"You seem off, Ms. Foutley."

"I'm just tired," said Ginger, partly lying.

"Yes, I would think so with all the news about Elliot going around." Ginger said nothing in response so the teacher went on talking. "How are you taking it?"

"I'm fine," she said. "I just don't know what to think really. I don't think he did it, but then I hear some stories and it really makes me wonder. Like, should I stick by his side no matter what?"

"I can't tell you what to do, you have to figure it out yourself."

"But I just don't know," Ginger said with a sigh. "It's too confusing. If it does turn out that he really did all that, I don't know what I would do. I want to think that I would still love him, but I don't know if I could love a murderer."

"Do you think he killed those people?"

Ginger sighed sadly again. "I keep saying that I don't, but then I do. But I mostly think no, he didn't do it. Does that make any sense?"

"Yes," said Mr. Keller.

"I just don't know what to think. I already said that, didn't I? Now I keep running in circles and confusing myself even more."

She looked up at the clock. "I need to get going so I can go to work. Thanks for listening, Mr. Keller. Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"No, I mainly wanted to ask you to pay more attention in my class. Your grade is slipping terribly. I know that you are a smart girl, but you seem to lack an attention span when you come into this classroom."

"I've just never had an interest in math."

"Very few students seem to."

"Well, I'll get working on my grade starting tomorrow. Thanks again, Mr. Keller."

* * *

Elliot stopped in his tracks and looked back. Calvin slipped on his jacket and said, "We've had enough for today, Mr. Boyd. You will have to tell some other time we see you." 

"No, wait. I want to hear," said Elliot, feeling very curious about this.

Andrew Boyd was frozen in thought. "Let's just go," Mr. Loomis said.

"No, I want to hear."

Loomis mumbled something under his breath about stupid bratty kids. "Hurry up then. You have a horrible problem with stalling, Boyd."

"If would stop interrupting me, then maybe I could actually get the chance to talk, Calvin," said Mr. Boyd. He turned to face only Elliot. "I want who every the guy is to be caught."

"Everyone wants him caught."

"Shut up, Loomis. I want him caught because I am related to one of the victims."

"Who?" asked Elliot. He didn't remember hearing any of them with the last name of Boyd. He surely would have made a connection if there were one.

"Eron," Boyd said after a moment of hesitation. A dark period of awkward silenced fell over the room. Each person could feel it coursing through their veins. "You might not have known because we have different surnames, but he was my sister's son, the youngest of the family. That is why I want this freak caught. Not just for Eron, but for all the other families because I know what they are feeling. I will not stop until I find who ever did it. And all the clues are pointing to you Elliot." Elliot looked at his feet. "You better be praying that you aren't the guy, because I'm going to kill the sick bastard and make him suffer for all that he did as we find him. I'm going to make him wish that he never touched Eron or any of those people. Now, is there anything you would like to add to that story of yours?"

Elliot sighed and went back to his chair. The two elder men also sat down. Boyd stared at him intently as Elliot began to tell the rest of the story. "I did see Eron again afterwards. I waited for some people to clear and then I went to find him. I caught up with him. I tried to talk to him, but Eron didn't want to. He kept saying that he had to go home. Then I grabbed onto him and he was about to yell for help. I wanted him to shut up so I covered his mouth. But he wouldn't stop fighting against me. I won't him to stop and hold still so I could talk to him. I told him to shut up and stop moving or I'd hurt him again. He stopped and I took him just a short distance from where we were.

I found a place where people wouldn't be listening to what I was going to tell him. Eron tried to run away again so I chased after him. I hated how he wouldn't just stay put, it was making me mad that he would not just listen to me. I had almost caught up to him and then-."

* * *

Later that night, Ginger was home practically alone since Carl had locked himself in his room talking to Adina. She was lying on the couch, watching some Life Time movie. Some commercials came on. Ginger was going to take this time to get up and make some popcorn, but midway through the popping, the phone rang. She decided to just let it go on so she wouldn't have to deal with burnt popcorn.

Eventually, who ever called had given up. The phone began to ring again just as Ginger sat back down. Who the fuck keeps calling? Ginger asked herself. She answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Is this Ginger Foutley?"

"Yes, and who is this?"

"I have something important to tell you."

"Who is this?"

"I need to tell-."

"Not until you tell me who is talking," Ginger interrupted.

It sounded like the person on the other line was about to hang out, but they went on saying. "You may want to shut up. I have a very important piece of information that I believe you will be interested in."

"What are you talking about?"

"The information, you will want to listen to what I say. It could just help you save your boyfriend."

"Elliot? What do you know?"

"I know that he does in fact have a part in the crime he is thought to have done."

"What?"

"I know there is evidence saying that he did what they are saying he did."

"Elliot didn't do anything!" Ginger exclaimed. "You're lying!"

"No I am not. Now listen to the rest of it."

"Fine."

The unknown caller began to tell. "I can tell you this evidence. The police have no found it yet, but if they do, Elliot will be caught for sure. When you find this, you are to destroy it."

"Why? Why would you want me to do that?"

"I thought you would like to save your precious boyfriend from life in prison. It will also benefit me."

"In what way?"

"I have a beef with one of the head officers on this case and I would like very much to see him humiliated and drug through the dirt."

"Why?"

"I wouldn't have thought that you would be asking why unless you really didn't care what happens to Elliot."

"But if he really did it," said Ginger, "then he should have to pay for his crimes."

"Do you love him?"

"Yes."

"Is that true?"

"Yes!"

"Then why are you questioning whether you should help him or not. The people are dead, it's not like bringing punishing Elliot will bring them back."

"Yeah, but-," Ginger started to say. She stopped. "So what is this thing I am supposed to get rid of or what ever?"

"I can't tell you on here. There could be people listening."

"What? Why?"

"You do have person relations with Elliot, don't you?"

"Yeah, but wouldn't they already know then since you were talking about it."

"Yes, but they won't know what to look for."

"Then how will I find out?"

"Go to 1936 Cranberry South. It's the old brick house in the middle on the left side of the street. One of the doors should be unlocked. I will be waiting for you there in around an hour."

"How do I know that you aren't going to hurt me?" asked Ginger.

"Because you are my last chance on getting revenge. Now are you in or not?"

Ginger paused to think it over. "I'm in," she said. "I'll be there soon."

"You have one hour."

"Yeah, I heard you."

"Good bye."

"Bye."

Ginger hung up the phone and ran up to her room to grab a sweatshirt. Before heading out the back door, she grabbed her father's old pocketknife that was hidden in the back of a kitchen drawer. Ginger may seem dense enough to trust a complete stranger and go to his or her house, but she was not dense enough to go without protection.

* * *

**The end! I know I haven't updated in awhile so I tried to make it longer. I'm writing the next chapter now so when it comes time to update, I can just post it instead of taking days and weeks. So what did you think? Elliot is a liar. LIAR!... That's all I got to say.**

**With Love,**

**CT**


	13. Chapter 13

**Second to last chapter!**

* * *

God damn it! Why does it have to be so dark? Ginger asked herself. She was wandering around a yard filled with weeds and need a good trimming. Who ever had called her earlier said the door would be unlocked. It wasn't. So Ginger decided to try her luck with the back door.

After making it through the sea of overgrown grass, Ginger reached the back door. She twisted the knob and pushed on the door. It didn't budge. She tried to remember what he had said. She was sure that he said that one of the doors would be left unlocked. How many other doors could there be?" she asked herself. Her patience was ending fast. She needed to get in and save Elliot before it was too late.

She was walking to the side of the house she had not yet explored when she saw an open window. It was pretty high up. Ginger had to stand on her toes to get a decent look. But this was her only chance to get in she figured. She was able to pull herself up to the window and stand on the windowsill. Trying to keep her balance, she pried the window open successfully. Ginger climbed into the building.

"Hello?" she called out. She was waiting for an answer. A noise came from somewhere behind her. Ginger swirled around. Then it went dark.

* * *

"I grabbed his arm, pulled, and held him against my chest as tight as I could to make sure that he could not get away," said Elliot. "He kept telling me that he was sorry and to let him go home. I didn't, I had to talk to him first, but he wouldn't shut up long enough to let me talk. I put one of my arms were around his neck to get him to stop talking. And I was pushing down on it too hard and he kind of stopped moving for a second. So I lessened my grip. That's when he started moving again and broke away. I was going to go after him, but I didn't. I went home instead."

Andrew Boyd studied the young man with a hard stare. It just didn't seem to fit to him. "Is that all that happened?" he asked.

"Yes," said Elliot. "I let him go and then I left."

"And that was the last time you saw him?"

"I believe the whole point of the story," Loomis interrupted, "was for him to tell what happened the last time he saw Eron. Now, if you don't mind, I have some family business to attend to so we must be going now."

"This is family business," said Boyd. He turned back to Elliot. "There is something about your story that doesn't seem right to me. It's like it's missing something.

"I told you everything I remembered!"

"Did you conveniently forget a part or two?"

Elliot's blood began to boil with anger. "No! I already fucking told you, I do not remember anymore! That is what happened! I saw him leave and that's it. I'm sorry that he's dead, but I did not kill Eron. I didn't kill any of those people!"

"Then why didn't you just tell the whole story in the first place?"

"I don't know," sighed Elliot. He buried his head in his hands.

"Well, you know what they say," said Loomis impatiently. "Leave the past in the past. There is not need to fret about it now. Come on, Elliot, let's go. You've already stalled us long enough for today."

Elliot froze up, his expression filled with though. "Wait, I think I remember something else. Yeah, it was when I was going after him the last time." Loomis sighed, sat back in his chair, and began to tap the table with the fountain pen again.

* * *

Ginger awoke with a slight headache. Where am I? she asked herself. She was propped up in a stiff armchair.

"How did I get inside here?"

The room was dark. It had always been a dark room but the darkness of night made it even darker. It was awfully dusty and smelt like a mix of mothballs and some sort of faded perfume.

There was one lone window, which you could see little speckles of stars lighting up the sky. A small haze covered the moon tonight. From the window frame hung warn drapes made from a hideous paisley pattern. Through the dark she could make out the basic outlines of objects in the room. Ginger was about to get up form the chair when she saw something stir from the corner.

"Hello?"

There was no reply.

It just is just a shadow, Ginger thought. The shadow began to move. It crept forward with small baby steps. Ginger, who was now standing up felt a strange coldness incase around her. Something just didn't feel right.

"Take a seat," said the shadow in a voice sounding as dark as the source.

* * *

"Carl, Ginger, I'm home," Ms. Foutley yelled as she walked through the front door. No answer. "I'm home!"

"I'm on the phone, Mom. Do you think you could keep it down?" Carl called from his bedrooms.

"Teenagers," Ms. Foutley mumbled under her breath. "At least I know where one of them are. Now, where could Ginger be?" She smelt something burning from the kitchen. Fallowing that lead, Ms. Foutley went into the kitchen.

The smell was coming from the microwave. She opened it and pulled out a bag of burn popcorn. "She could have at least taken it out."

"Ginger!" Ms. Foutley yelled upstairs again. She remembered that Carl was on the phone, so she decided to go upstairs to find out where her daughter was.

When she reached her room, Loise found it empty. "Where could she be?" she asked herself. Clothes were scattered randomly through out the room leaving behind a jumbled mess.

That's not like Ginger, Ms. Foutley thought. She usually never leaves her things on the floor like this.

A strange sensation of panic went through her veins. Something was not right. Something had to be up. Ms. Foutley rushed down the stairs, to the living room, and went straight to the phone.

"Hello," a woman started to say, but Loise cut her off.

"Yes, hello. I need the police or the FBI or something! My daughter's missing and I don't know where she could have gone!"

"Calm down, Mam. Now tell me what is going on."

"My daughter, she isn't here. I just came home from work and when I looked in her room she wasn't there."

"How old is she and what does she look like?"

"She's sixteen with red hair."

"Mam, are you sure she's missing? She might have just gone out with friends. Did she leave a note somewhere?"

"No, I didn't see any. I've looked all over the house for her, but she's nowhere to be found. Ginger isn't the type to just leave with out saying something! She's a good kid, she's not out running around!"

"Mam, please calm down," the dispatcher said. "Why don't you wait a couple of minutes to see if any news turns up or call a couple of your daughter's friends and try to find out something from them. Most kids her age leave just like that. I'm sure she's fine."

"But she's not here!"

"And if she doesn't turn up later, just call back here and we'll take care of it. Ok?"

Ms. Foutley let out a sigh of defeat. "Ok then. I'll go check around some more." She hung up the phone and went back up to Ginger's room to see if there was anything she had missed.

* * *

Slowly, Ginger sank back down in the armchair, listening to the voices command. Why was she? Ginger wondered. Maybe that's what it was, just a voice. It really wasn't there, it was just an allusion. She was actually dreaming right now and at any moment she would wake up to find herself sleeping on the couch with the TV still going. But when did I actually check? Now Ginger was just confusing herself.

Or that is what she would have liked to believe. Truth be told, Ginger knew where she was. And how did she regret it.

Great, she said to herself. Now I have gotten myself stuck with this mad man. Or it could be woman. I'll go with mad person. Why did I fall for this anyways?

"You are here," the shadow said, "for information on Elliot."

Ginger hesitantly nodded.

"And I will give you the answers you so seek. But that is only if you answer a question or two for me."

She furrowed her eyebrows together. "Who are you?"

The darkness laughed. "What? Do you not recognize me? I find this very disappointing, Ginger. Very disappointing indeed. And I was in such a happy mood knowing that you would be coming to me." This shadow, person, seemed to have something familiar about it. It was the voice. It was oh so familiar, but Ginger could not quite remember whom that voice belonged to.

"Wait," Ginger said in a soft voice. Then it clicked. The voice, the face, the stranger, it all hit. "Mr. Keller?"

* * *

Clothes were flying everywhere, falling onto the floor. "She must have left something," Mrs. Foutley said to herself as she continued to toss her daughter's belongings onto the floor. "She had to have left some clue to where she was going."

Once the continents of the drawers were all on the floor, Mrs. Foutley moved onto the next. She had gone through just about everything with no result. As she got up from the floor, she saw something sitting on the top of the dresser.

It was a white box with pink dots on it. There was nothing unusual about it, just a regular looking jewelry box. But for some reason Mrs. Foutley felt she should open it. She quickly opened it. Just as expected, there was nothing inside but a mess of jewelry.

"Ginge really needs to learn how to keep her jewelry better," Loise said. She pulled up on a black necklace that drug along a whole trail of other ones attached to it. Something peaked out from underneath the bracelets and necklaces. It was smooth and white. Ms. Foutley pulled it out from the mess. What she pulled out was an envelope that looked to be nearly over flowing with letters. Now Mrs. Foutley did not really like snooping in her children's business, but this was urgent. She had a good excuse anyways. Her daughter was missing and she didn't know where she had gone.

Just blame it on Ginger for leaving in the first place, Mrs. Foutley told herself.

She skimmed through the letters. It didn't take long for her to register what they were about or what was going on. "Oh my God! My daughter was kidnapped!" Mrs. Foutley dashed to the nearest phone.

* * *

**Fifteen minutes later **

* * *

"I'm telling you, she was kidnapped!" Mrs. Foutley said, practically shouting.

"Calm down, Mrs. Foutley," said Officer Peney. "We aren't for sure."

"Have you not read those letters?"

"Yes, I have. But you need to stay calm."

"My daughter is missing and those, those letters! They're crazy!"

"Mrs. Foutley-."

"No, look," Loise interrupted him. She took a couple from his hands. "He knew Laura. He killed Laura and then he threatened Ginger! Oh God he's going to kill her!"

"You know, we already have that murderer in custody," said another officer.

"What? Who?"

"Elliot MacCannaly."

Peney gave him a dirty look. "You aren't supposed to release that kind of information," he whispered harshly.

"Well, sorry," said officer Gadbsy. "I was just trying to think of a way that could get her to calm down and shut up." Peney rolled his eyes.

"Elliot? He wouldn't do something like that, especially to hurt Ginger," said Mrs. Foutley.

"He's dating your daughter, right?" Mrs. Foutley nodded. The two policemen exchanged looks.

"What?"

"How long has it been since she was gone?"

"I don't know," Loise said. "The last time I saw her was when I was leaving for work. That was at five."

"She could just be out with friends-."

"How can you say that after reading those!"

"We can assure you that she has not been kidnapped."

"Or not at least the murder," Gadbsy said under his breath.

"But since it was in the paper about Elliot, people would be angry with him. And if they can't get to him, they might try to hurt him by hurting someone he cares about."

"Ginger," Ms. Foutley said in a rushed tone.

Peney nodded. "That could be it, but nothing is for sure. Those letters most defiantly mean something and we're going to take them down to be examined."

"But Ginger-."

"Don't worry. We'll have people out looking for her. Why don't you just wait hear until she gets back. Like we said, maybe she went out and forgot to call. You'll want to be here when she gets back."

Ms. Foutley nodded. "Yes, officers. Please call me if you get any new information."

"Will do, Mam," said Peney as he and his partner walked out the door.

* * *

"I saw him," Elliot said. "I saw him back on the sidewalk, walking home, I guess. I was just watching him, that's all. I wasn't doing anything else. And then I saw a car drive up to him. It stopped and he was talking with who ever were in it. Eron went to the other side of the car and got in at the passenger side."

"Did you see who was driving?" asked Boyd.

"No, but the car was black. I think. I couldn't really tell, it was too dark. I'm pretty sure if was black though."

"Did you get a license plate or anything? Any other details?"

Elliot shook his head. "That's just about it."

"So you're telling me," Boyd said, folding his hands together. "That Eron got into a car with some stranger?"

"I think he knew him. That's what I thought when I saw him talking to the guy."

"Guy?"

"Yeah, he was older. I thought it must have been his dad or someone he knew. And from what I saw, there was nothing suspicious about it, so I left."

"And you are expecting me to believe that? Why didn't you just say that in the beginning?"

"Would have saved us a lot of time," Mr. Loomis said under his breath.

Elliot shrugged. "I don't know. Must have thought it wasn't too important."

"It was the last time you saw him. And it was with him getting into some car. How is that not important?"

Elliot shrugged again. "It's not like you would believe me anyways. You all think I did it and there's nothing I could do or say to change your minds."

"Maybe it is because your story doesn't make any sense is the reason why no one here believes you."

Elliot opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off. "Don't say anything," said Loomis.

"Why?"

"Because I am your lawyer and that's what I'm paid for, to tell you when to speak and when not to."

"I-."

"Just shut up, kid. You aren't making yourself look any better." Elliot narrowed his eyes at him.

"What we-," Boyd began to say. His phone rang. With a sigh, he answered it.

"What? You're kidding me? But we have him right here! Ok, I'll be there in a second." He hung up and looked back at the two. "You guys are free for now. I'll be seeing you later, but right now I have some business to attend to."

"Don't we all," Loomis said as he headed for the door. He and Boyd reached the door at the same time. After a quick glare, Loomis let Boyd go through first. "Age before beauty." Andrew rolled his eyes

* * *

"Mr. Keller, why are you here?" Ginger asked.

"You were the one who wanted my help."

"That was you on the phone? What do you know about Elliot?"

A grin that would make the Grinch flinch in fear spread across his lips. "Oh, just about everything you want to know."

"Like what?"

"Like I know that he didn't do it."

"I know, that's what you said on the phone."

"Exactly."

"But how? Then who did?"

"That, I know too."

"Who?"

"All in due time, Dear, all in due time."

A silence fell over them. Mr. Keller was standing in front of a window, looking out into the night. "Where are we?" Ginger asked.

"My home. In my attic."

Ginger thought about this. "But you live in the other side of town. I saw your house before."

"My old house," Mr. Keller said. "I lived here ages upon ages ago." He sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Memories. They are a thorn in the ass."

"Why?"

Mr. Keller swiftly turned to her. "What does it mean to you? It's none of your businesses!"

"Sorry," Ginger mumbled. "I was just asking." She paused. "Are they bad?"

"Consider yourself luck, Miss Foutley," he said; now facing the window. "That you do not know the true feeling of suffering. I've done everything in my power to keep you away from it. For now."

"What are you talking about?" Ginger was beginning to feel nervous.

"It doesn't matter. No one cares so it doesn't matter," Mr. Keller said, shaking his head.

Ginger slowly got up from her chair. "Tell me." She took a couple of steps towards him. "I want to hear."

"No you don't, no one does."

"I do. Please tell me, Mr. Keller. I want to know."

He sighed again. "If it will please you."

"This house," he began, "is the reason I am what I am. This is the house I grew up with. Most kids when they are younger are afraid of monsters being under their bed. But I didn't. I had to worry about the ones that were in the house. The only difference was, my monsters were real."

"I never knew my father. He was dead or gone when I was one or two. The only adult I knew was my mother. She was the only one I had and vise versa for her. We didn't have much money, but we were happy. Of course, that didn't last long."

"My life turned to night when I was six years old. I was out shopping with my mother and I had wandered away to find the toys. I had gotten lost in a crowd of people. I started to panic and run all over, looking for her. And then someone grabbed me. I didn't know who he was, but I could tell by just looking at him that he wasn't a good man. He smiled at me and asked me if I was looking for my mom. That's when I started to cry. I hated him even then. I knew that he wanted to hurt me. I could tell by the look in his eyes."

"But then my mother found us. She thanked him and they started to talk. Only six months after meeting, they decided they were in love and got married in some cheep ceremony. I was angry at my mother, but what ever made her happy was fine, I supposed."

"So he moved in. That's when it all started. He acted like he was a good dad, like he wanted to be one. He'd always want to play some kind of game; his favorite was the tickle monster game. I didn't like them much, but it made my mom happy to see that I had a father figure and that made me happy too."

"His games turned into abuse. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, he said. Every night he would come into my room while my mother was at work and we would play more "games". That is what he liked to call them. It made them sounds more innocent from what he was really doing."

"One day, I decided to tell my mother. I told her that Tyler and I had a secret. She asked me what it was. When I told her, she slapped me. She hit me really hard and told me I was a dirty liar and that I shouldn't be thinking things like that. She said he would never do that and I was making the whole thing up. Then she left. She didn't talk to me for a long time. I sat on the floor, crying. Then he came in and hugged me. I knew he didn't really care that I was upset, but I really wanted to feel some sort of love now that I knew that my mother hated me."

"Eventually, he could careless if Mother found out. I was pretty sure that she knew what he was doing by now. I recall her walking in on us once when he was raping me. She put the clothes back into the closet and left, like nothing was going on."

"By the time I was fourteen, the abuse had grown. It happened almost everyday. But I was tired of it. I was tired of putting up with Tyler and Mother. So one night, I went into their room and I shot him in the head. The bastard deserved it for all he put me through. My mother lay there. She was still asleep or pretending she was. I killed her too. Two shots through the head. And then I went back to my room and shot myself in the arm. When the police came, I made up a story that someone had broke in to take money. I must have put on a good enough show, because they believed me."

"I was put into foster care and shipped from house to house until I was eighteen. I went to college, became a teacher, and here we are now. I scared myself by what I had done. I didn't regret it, but I never thought I would be able to kill anyone. So I locked up all the anger I still had left over. But, you know, you can't keep anything locked away for too long. It will eventually get free."

Ginger wasn't sure what to say. "You know," thought out loud. "I had a dream about something like that. About someone being lost."

"See," Mr. Keller said. "That is why I brought you here. You are my angel, my savior. You are the only one who can save me from this range that has taken over me."

"Um." Ginger was now officially creeped out. "Mr. Keller, what you are you talking about?"

"Elliot did not kill those people, I did. And I can't stop, Ginger, I can't stop. I've thought about, and there is only one way. I read it in a book. This man was trapped in his old life because something was holding him back. And then his angel came and liberated him. But he had to sacrifice something, something most important to him. He killed his angel and then they were both free. You see, Ginger, it is two-way deal. We both can be free. You won't ever have to know sufferings like mine and I won't be bound to this life."

"Mr. Keller." Ginger began to back away. "I don't think you know what you are talking about."

* * *

"This is where the number traced to," said Peney.

"You sure?" asked Gadbsy. "This dump?"

"Yup."

"It's so old it doesn't look like it could have any phones in it."

"This is it."

A black car drove up next to the other cars. The door opened and Andrew Boyd stepped out. He walked over and joined the other policemen. "Hey," he said. "What's up with this place?"

"That Foutley girl's missing. The last phone call was traced here."

"You sure?"

"A neighbor said that he saw a young girl lurking around here later. He said she didn't look to be up to good."

"Who lives here?"

"No one. It's been abandon for years."

"I can see why," Gadbsy said. Boyd nodded in agreement. "Who was the last to live in here?"

"I think it was Freda Keller."

"Who's she?"

"Was," said Boyd. "She's dead now, murdered in that house. Someone broke in, shot her and her husband while they slept. The guy shot the kid too, but the kid lived."

"When was this?" asked Gadbsy.

"A long time ago. My uncle worked on the case. It was pretty brutal. No one has lived in there since."

The silence to the chilly night fell over them. Gadbsy shivered. "So are we going in?"

"No, not quite yet," answered Peney.

"Why?"

"We spotted two people in the building," another officer said. "They're in the attic."

"Could you tell what they look like?"

"No, not really. One looked to be like an adult male. I couldn't really tell with the other one. It was a girl, I think."

"You positive?"

"Yeah."

Peney and Boyd looked at each other. "What should we do? Should we go in?" asked Peney.

* * *

"Now," said Mr. Keller, "I say we get this going. I have been waiting for this moment for oh so long."

"What?" Ginger asked dumbly.

Mr. Keller walked over to a shelf where miscellaneous items were stacked upon it. "Now don't you struggle." He took down a roll of tape. "Well, not yet at least. Save that for when the real fun begins."

Ginger stayed sitting the dust filled armchair. She could not move. She had become immobilized by fear of what was to come.

"This time I won't have to worry about keeping them quiet. It doesn't matter if I get caught now. Besides, they think it's that Elliot. I can get away will all of those deaths. I will start new."

"Don't you think it's not fair that you can start over, but the people you killed can't?"

"No, not really. I could careless."

"But-." Ginger tried to come up with something to say. "But you said you loved me. Why would you want to hurt me?"

"I have to. If I hurt you now, you will never hurt again. So actually, I did them all a favor."

"Why?" said Ginger, trying to stall him.

"Why what?"

"Why did you pick them?"

"It was their destiny."

"But there has to be a reason why you killed them. You just don't go around randomly killing people."

"You want to know why?" Mr. Keller stood in place, right in front of the chair Ginger was sitting in. Slowly, she nodded. "Why? The reason is simple. If you looked, you would see why."

"Look at what?"

"The clues, Ginger." He walked away another part of the room. The pulled away some drapes to reveal that there was no window there. Instead there was a wall covered with pictures and newspaper clippings. In the middle of the collage was a list of names of the people who had fallen a victim to Cian Keller. "Come get a closer look," he said, beckoning Ginger with a hand movement. Cautiously Ginger rose from the chair and began to walk towards her teacher. She thought it would be best for her safety if she did what he said for now.

She examined the names closely, look for any sort of clue. "I don't see anything."

Mr. Keller sighed. "That's disappointing. Most people don't. They never see anything besides the black and white version. I was hoping you wouldn't be one of the people, Ginger. I hoped that you would look beyond the surface of something to see what it truly is. Take another look, from my point of view." Mr. Keller traced his index finger down each of the names.

* * *

_**Isabella Rodriguz**_

_**Nora Godwin**_

_**Edna Asheral**_

_**Emma Taylor**_

_**Diana Kesheral**_

_**Laura Foutley**_

_**Olivia Mill**_

_**Vianne Brooklyn**_

_**Eron Micus**_

* * *

"Notice anything?" he asked. Ginger nodded her head no. Mr. Keller grit his teeth together.

"How can you not see it! How is it not that obvious to you!" He grabbed the back of Ginger's head and harshly moved it closer to the words. "Look at the first initials! Look! I! N! E! E! D! L! O! V! E! Can't you see that? Can't you understand?" She was released from his grip

"I need love," Ginger said softly. She turned her head towards him. "Is this why you did it? Is this why you killed them?"

"Didn't I already fucking say that? Yes, of course you stupid bitch!"

He wasn't talking as calm now, Ginger thought. Her time was running out. She would have to try to stall some more. "How did you plan this?" she asked. "How did you pick out those people?"

A glint shone through his eyes, as if feeling proud that someone wanted to know. "Isabella used to be one of his students. I've always hated that bitch. I only killed her to settle a grudge. She was just too smart for her own good. She was always trying to make herself look superior to me. Obviously she wasn't since I'm not the one in the ground being eaten by worms."

"You might have known Nora. She went to Luck High too. I've had a crush on her for some time. I began to have fantasies about her, so I decided to act on them. Her death was an accident. I didn't mean to kill her then."

"Edna I hardly new. She was just an acquaintance. I met her at a bar, we talked for a while, and I asked her out. She said no. I got mad, fallowed her to the parking lot, kidnapped her murdered her. She begged for mercy, but I turned her down."

"That Taylor girl was an accident. She had seen me drop off Edna's body. I had to do something, I couldn't get caught. So I killed her too." Mr. Keller's expression had gone sad. "I didn't really want to. She kept saying she was sorry. I wanted to let her go, but it was either her or me."

"By the time it got to Diana, I knew there was no way I could stop this. I had to kill; it was my way of living. Kill, or die. Her case was more of just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, nobody really cared about her. It wasn't as big as blow to the school like when you die."

"Well, you know Laura's story. It's kind of your fault. You didn't listen and I killed her."

"Olivia Mill was just a stupid horny whore who should have been careful with who she let in her house. Not only did her foolishness work out, so did her name. She wasn't that fun to kill. She was still pretty drunk that the moment."

"I juste hated Vivianne. She never did her work and tried to put all of her school troubles on me. Her retarded father would always call me, yelling about how I was going to pay if I don't stop picking on his daughter. It would just make life easier if I killed her then. My phone bill went down quite a bit then too."

"What about Eron?" Ginger broke in. "He was in only one of your classes. And you seemed to be fine with him."

"The answer is simply, you," said Mr. Keller. "He was bugging you. You wanted him to stop. Your boyfriend hardly did anything, so I took a step in and took care of it myself."

"But why?" Her eyes were brimming with tears.

"I wanted you to be happy," he said, as if it was an obvious answer. "I'd do anything to make you happy, Ginger. I'd take another person's life. Their life is nothing compared to yours. And soon, I will have yours." He took a step forward. Ginger began to walk backwards, back to where she was.

"Do you want to know how I am going to do it, Ginger?" he asked. "I have been planning this for so long. You see, I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to enjoy seeing you breathe your last breaths. The other's happened much too fast. I didn't really get the change to fully watch them die. I have it all in here." He tapped on his head. "First, I will get this tape over your mouth and have you strapped to the chair. Once you cannot move, I will clip your nose with a clothespin. Then you will not be able to breathe at all. Slowly, you will die and I will able to sit back and watch your last."

"Do you know what is the best part?" he asked. Ginger shook her head no. "Hearing the death moan. It's music to my ears, sheer Beethoven." He pushed Ginger into the chair. "Now, shall we begin?"

"Freeze you bastard!" someone bellowed. The door to the attic was kicked down and people in black uniforms came rushing in. Their guns were pointed at Cian.

A great feeling of relief rushed over Ginger. She was now free!

Mr. Keller raised his hands up as a sign of surrender.

"You have the right to-," Peney began to say, but Mr. Keller lunged forward and grabbed Ginger. She shrieked as he pulled her back to the opposite side of the room, near the window. He had pulled a handgun out of his pocket and was holding it up against the right temple of her head. "Do anything," he said, "and I'll kill her." The officers froze, waiting for commands from Peney.

Mr. Keller looked at each of them. His eyes stopped at Boyd and a grin spread across his cracked lips. "Andrew Boyd," he said in a cocky way. "I have something you may want."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I know," he said. "That you are related to Eron Mikus. Now tell me, how was it when you found his body? Really, I would like to know. I never get to see the faces of others when my work is seen." Boyd's face froze in confusion. "Yes, that's right. Elliot did not kill him, or any of them. He's too stupid to. He lacks the creativity to do such things."

"You-."

"Yes, I. I was the one. You must feel real stupid now, knowing that you were blaming some kid all this time while the real killer was still free able to strike again. But I do have something for you." Still holding Ginger, he walked over to the shelf. Using one hand to grab a pair of shoes and the other to held against Ginger's throat, he took the shoes down and held them up to Boyd. "They're his. He was wearing them when he died. Would you like them?" Boyd said nothing. "Would you like to hear the details?

"What?"

"The details on how he died." The grin had morphed into a malicious one. He knew that he was getting to Andrew, he loved it. "I saw him walking around. He looked pretty bruised up, so I offered him a ride home. That kid was stupid enough to accept. You should never do that when a murder is about, but apparently he didn't know that even though his uncle is a police officer."

"I started driving to my house instead. He told me that we weren't going the right way. I told him I knew that. That's when he started to panic a little, but he seemed to calm down when I told him he could turn on the radio."

"I stopped in the camping area of the woods. No one was there so I thought it was the perfect place to kill him. I forced him out of the car and made him stand there while I got something out of the trunk. I got some rope and a bat. I started hitting him in the legs to make sure that he couldn't run away. I did get a bit to carried away with the bat, I shall admit."

"When he could no longer stand, I kicked him to the ground and fucked that kid so hard that I'm surprised his brains didn't come out."

Boyd moved his finger to the trigger of his gun, ready to shoot. "You faggot," he growled through his teeth.

Now it was the grin of a true mad man. He didn't care who he hurt, as long as he got pleasure from it. "Eventually I got bored with my little sex toy and decided to get rid of it. So I killed the little bastard, like I originally planned to do. He was too die much sooner, but there was something different about him that made it so much more fun."

"You sick bastard!" Boyd shouted. "I'm going to fucking shoot your head off now!"

"Do that," Mr. Keller said in a calm tone, "and you risk killing her too. Not that I would mind."

"Don't do it," Peney said to Boyd. "Just wait for the right moment."

"I say the moment is now."

"You don't want to hurt the girl."

Boyd mumbled something as a response.

Keller smirked. "Here are those shoes." He tossed them to Boyd's feet. "Even though they are lovely memory, I think you might want them back."

Andrew looked at the shoes lying before him. "You mother fucking freak! You're a work of the devil! God has no place for you!"

Mr. Keller's face twisted into a strange expression. He looked as if to be in pain by what had been said about him. Ginger took notice to this and thought about what he had told her earlier. She remembered all of the things her teacher had said about his past. For some reason now, she felt sorry for him. He wanted attention, he wanted love. He wanted it from her. And this was the only way he thought he could get it. In some way, Ginger thought, this was more her fault then his. He was somewhat like a child causing mischief to get the attention he needed.

"Don't say that to him!" she said. The officer's looked shocked at her small outburst. "You don't understand him! You don't know anything about him! How dare you call him a freak!"

"Do you think he drugged her?" Gadbsy asked.

Mr. Keller's far away look turned into a frown. "I've had it. I've had it with this all! It ends now!"

"No, stop!" Peney yelled, lunging towards them to save Ginger.

Mr. Keller put his finger on the trigger read to pull.

* * *

**So was anyone wondering where I have been the past two months? You will have to excuse my absence. I've been busy with dance practices for my recital at the end of the month. It takes up a lot my time. Yes, I am in dance. STOP STARING AT ME LIKE THAT! I have also been battling with some personal thing that has come back to me. Did everyone get it all? The dreams? The listing of the names? The rabbit? There is actaully something I was thinking about, so I put it in here. If you don't know now, I'll say later. Did the length make up for the lacking of two months? Also, tell me what you think. Love it? Hate it?**

**With Love,**

**CT**


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